Rubber Research in Sri Lanka - The past 100 years and the future

By Dr. A. Nugawela

Director, Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka

In the year 2009, Sri Lanka completes one hundred years in Research and Development activities on Natural Rubber (NR). Sri Lanka is the first NR producing country in the world to pass this significant milestone.

Hence, it is an achievement that Sri Lanka can be very proud and the technologies used to- day to drive the industry evident the contribution made by the Rubber Research Institute.

Discovery of natural rubber and its potential

The Natural Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) is native to the Amazon forest in South America and the first recorded evidence of a natural rubber producing tree to the world outside its native land was, when Christopher Columbus made his voyage to the Americas during 1493-1496. He observed inhabitants of Haiti playing with balls made out of a gum like substance and found that this substance is obtained from the Hevea brasiliensis tree.

Many years later in 1772 a British Chemist named Joseph Priestly found that latex obtained from this plant in its dried form is capable of erasing or rubbing out pencil marks.

Due to this character of the material the dried latex of the Hevea plant was named Rubber and the tree providing the material the rubber tree.

The discovery made by Charles Goodyear in 1842 converted natural rubber from a commodity of limited use and little value to one of the world's most important natural products.

This process known as vulcanization made rubber usable universally and also under different weather conditions. The other development that made natural rubber indispensable to the mankind was the discovery of the pneumatic tyre in 1888 by J.B. Dunlop. Nevertheless, the annual consumption of the world natural rubber gathered momentum only after the advent of the motor car in 1900.

Forest to cultivated rubber

The technological advances and product developments described above resulted in a heavy demand for natural rubber in the world.

With the realization that forest rubber plants are unable to supply the increasing world demand for natural rubber the concept of cultivating rubber in countries outside its origin came in to light.

As a result on the instructions of the curator of Kew Gardens in UK Sir Henry Wickham in 1876 collected rubber seeds from the Amazon forest and shipped them to Kew Gardens in UK. These seeds were initially germinated in a green house prior to shipping to Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.

However from this initial batch of germinated seeds dispatched to the Asian countries mentioned above only the seedlings planted in Sri Lanka survived.

In Sri Lanka the rubber seedlings were planted in both Peradeniya and Henarathgoda Botanical gardens.

It is reported that by 1881 the rubber plants planted at both Peradeniya and Henarathgoda Botanical gardens had started flowering and had produced seeds. In 1883 these rubber seeds had been used for initiating commercial scale planting of rubber in Sri Lanka.

Further, Sri Lanka had also exported rubber seeds to other Asian countries during this period.

The very high global demand that had existed for Natural Rubber together with the attractive return on investment had driven growers to cultivate rubber very extensively during this period.

Research & Development to establish best practices

With the rapid growth in the rubber cultivation in the country, the rubber growers were of the view that best practices to grow rubber should be established and also methodologies regarding processing and manufacture should be developed. With this background a committee consisting of members of British Plantation interests in Ceylon had been established in 1909 and it had agreed to contribute to a scheme to provide advisory and research facilities to its members.

This had been the birth of research and development of natural rubber in the country and the origin of the Rubber Research Scheme of Ceylon. The first meeting of the Executive Committee of the Rubber Research Scheme of Ceylon had been held on the October 19, 1910 at the Chamber of Commerce, Colombo and Hon. Edward Rosling had been appointed as its first Chairman. L. Bellario, an Analytical Chemist had been the first Scientific Officer appointed by the Rubber Research Scheme of Ceylon and had been assigned to study aspects regarding coagulation of natural rubber latex.

Institutional Developments

In 1913 the Rubber Research Scheme of Ceylon had been reorganized and had been named as the Ceylon Rubber Research Scheme with the Government agreeing to contribute 60% of the annual budget.

Considering the increasing responsibilities towards all local growers/producers, Rubber Research Ordinance No.10 of 1930 incorporating the Ceylon Rubber Research Scheme became operative in August 1930.

This ordinance provided the collection of a cess of one eight cents per pound of rubber exported from Ceylon to be utilized for Research work on natural rubber and to be administered by a Board of Management.

In 1932 T.E.H. O Brien had been appointed as the first Director of Research in the Ceylon Rubber Research Scheme. A 178 acre estate known as Dartonfield in Kalutara had been purchased in 1933 for the development of the Research Station of the Ceylon Rubber Research Scheme.

The experiments conducted at the Research Station and the information generated and disseminated through articles appearing in journals had been of immense value to the rubber growers/producers. The rubber planters had soon realized the advantages of putting the results of scientific research into practical use. In 1942 a lease of 1,000 acres of jungle land at Hedigalla in the Kalutara District had been secured for the purpose of expansion of existing facilities for research. The Ceylon Rubber Research Scheme had been officially named Rubber Research Institute in 1951 by the Provisions of Rubber Research (Amendment) Act No 30 of 1951.

The work of the Rubber Research Institute had increased greatly in 1953 with the introduction of the subsidized Rubber Replanting Scheme.

To facilitate the availability of planting material to the smallholders and small estate owners the Rubber Research Institute had established a large nursery at Egaloya in the Kalutara District during this period.

Due to the extensive research and development efforts of the researchers the rubber industry in the country had soon reached a status of maturity contributing immensely to the socio-economic development and also contributing to the protection of the environment of the country.

To be continued