Exploring the growth and stability of price, farm income and Labour wages in rubber plantations of Tripura

Natural Rubber (NR) is one of the major plantation crop of Tripura and an important source of livelihood to a large section of people in Tripura. However, the crop is highly globalised in nature and exposed to international market vagaries. The present paper explores the relative growth and stability of NR prices, farm income, productivity and labour wages by estimating exponential growth curves and Cuddy Della Vale Indices, which reveal severe instability in farm income, arising from fluctuations in price. The volatility of price may adversely affect small rubber growers and plantation workers who would be better off if policy interventions for increasing productivity and income are adopted.