Natural Rubber Sector in Tripura: Role of Institutional Innovations^§

Tripura's growing prominence in India's rubber map is essentially an outcome of the institutional interventions during the past five decades. These interventions have been found effective in transforming the state's agricultural sector from jhum based cultivation to commercial cultivation of NR. The major production–centric institutional interventions, viz. establishment of Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC), Tripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation (TRPC), Block Planting Units — Rubber Producers Societies (BPU-RPS) schemes of Rubber Board and marketing interventions such as establishment of NR processing and rubber products units enabling value-addition have highlighted the relevance of institutional innovations in the promotion of NR in Tripura. A comparative analysis of marketing of sheet rubber has revealed the lowest transaction costs and highest marketing efficiency of TFDPC through its direct marketing strategy without intermediaries. However, the BPU/RPS have been effective in minimizing the transaction costs from the smallholder's angle. The study has suggested the development of a rubber based industrial sector in the state for the sustained growth of NR cultivation.