Support price hike brings hope, but doubts linger in Kerala’s rubber heartland

As Kerala braces for back-to-back elections, the government has hit the accelerator for calming the nerves of settler farmers and inject fresh life into the State’s struggling rubber sector.

The Cabinet move to hike the support price of rubber from ₹180 to ₹200 per kg has sent a wave of optimism through central Travancore and the settler belts of north Malabar, where rubber trees still dominate the landscape.

Coming close on the heels of two key legislations, namely the Kerala Land Assignment (Amendment) Act, 2023 and the draft Wildlife Protection (Kerala Amendment) Bill, the decision is being read as a well-timed play to reconnect with Kerala’s powerful farming heartland.

Farmers, while welcoming the gesture, remain sceptical about whether it will be enough to revive the fortunes of a crop that once fuelled Kerala’s rural economy.

“While the long-awaited base price of ₹250 wasn’t granted, this hike gives hope for the future of rubber cultivation in Kerala,” says Babu Joseph, general secretary of the National Consortium of Rubber Producer Societies, representing small-scale growers across the State.

The demand for higher support prices for rubber and paddy has long been championed by the Catholic Church, particularly the Syro-Malabar Church, which wields considerable influence among settler communities. Ahead of the last Lok Sabha polls, the Church had thrown its weight behind the farmers’ cause. A remark by Thalassery Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplani that the BJP could win settler support if it raised the rubber price to ₹300 had even sparked a major political storm last year.

A senior Church official said the latest hike partly addressed the concerns raised by the Church, which recently organised a State-wide march under the Catholic Congress demanding better crop prices. “The LDF seems eager to gain early political goodwill from the Church’s renewed activism. While the hike may not erase discontent entirely, it will help ease friction between the Church and the government,” he said.

Biju Sebastian, president of the Catholic Congress under the Changanassery Archdiocese, also welcomed the move but called it “incomplete.” “It’s encouraging that the government has responded, but the hike still falls short of the LDF’s ₹250 promise. Paddy farmers in Kuttanad too need a procurement price of ₹40 to stay viable,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Congress (M), a key ruling ally, sees the decision as a boost to its pro-farmer credentials and a chance to reconnect with its traditional base. “Despite the constraints arising from the Centre’s undeclared economic sanctions, the Cabinet has taken decisions focussed on public welfare,” said party chairman Jose K. Mani.