Census on rubber lands

by L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

A census on rubber lands is being conducted by the Rubber Development Department (RDD) in collaboration with the Department of Census and Statistics and Department of Agrarian Services, a spokesman for the Rubber Development Department, said.

As a commercially viable plantation rubber has a better future.

A greater enthusiasm is shown for rubber cultivation due to the high market prices for natural rubber.

During the last ten years rubber cultivation in Sri Lanka has increased by around 10,000 hectares.

This trend will continue to increase in future and the RDD needs to collect more data to plan the future development strategies, he said.

Kegalle, Ratnapura and Kalutara are considered the traditional rubber plantation districts.

Rubber has been successfully introduced to Moneragala, Ampara, Badulla and Hambantota districts, he said. the census is expected to be completed by the end of this month.