Abstract
Being a war torn area, Eastern province of Sri Lanka is relatively underdeveloped and a large extent of lands which were under chena cultivation is available. Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis Muell. Arg.) has proven to be a successful tree crop in the peasant community with its ability to provide continuous permanent income through latex harvesting. Therefore, a feasibility study of planting rubber in Eastern province was carried out. The area coming under the Intermediate zone was the target and rubber planting commenced in 2003 with the participation of three farmers in Komana village of the Padiyatalawa division in the Ampara district. Only two farmers were successful in the first attempt. However, this success led to plant rubber in over 100ha with 282 farmers in the region by 2008. Despite the dry spell, the survival and growth of rubber plants in most of sites were satisfactory and on average, the annual girth expansion rate was 7.35 cm. Rubber plants were expected to be harvested for latex by 7 years. Photosynthetic parameters under normal circumstances were rather healthy, however, under severe drought conditions they were affected indicating a drought induced photoinhibition or down regulation in photosynthesis. Potential of alleviating the adverse effects of droughts on plant growth using improved agro-management practices is discussed.
Highlights
In Sri Lanka, the contribution of the rubber industry to the GDP is quite substantial and its share in foreign exchange earning has been over 0.7% (Anon, 2007)
Despite 118 ha planted with rubber, a large extent of uncultivated lands was found in this village and cultivation of permanent crops confined to 166 hectares
Assuming that 75% of those lands could be cultivated with rubber, 300 ha of rubber can be planted in this GS division
Summary
In Sri Lanka, the contribution of the rubber industry to the GDP is quite substantial and its share in foreign exchange earning has been over 0.7% (Anon, 2007). More rubber has to be produced to meet the increasing demand, there is virtually no potential for further expansion of the rubber cultivation in its traditional growing areas, i.e. Wet zone, since lands in this region are highly subjected to urbanization and industrialization. Land capita is generally higher in these two districts than in more developed western region of Sri Lanka, other new potential areas have to be targeted for further expansion of rubber cultivation because of continuous increase in pressure on land with increase in population. Eastern province has currently been identified for development programmes by the government of Sri Lanka. It comprises large extent of thinly populated land indicating the potential for establishing plantation crops like rubber. The objective of the present study was to assess the feasibility of planting rubber in Eastern province of the country with the participation of peasant community
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