GUWAHATI: Altogether 32 representatives from 13 rubber-producing countries visited a rubber nursery covering an area of 40 acres of land at Umshru under Jirang constituency of Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district on Friday.
The visit was a part of the Annual Rubber Conference and Assembly Meetings of the Association of Natural Rubber (NR) Producing Countries (ANRPC), an international organization of natural rubber-producing countries, concluded at Hotel Radisson Blu here on Thursday.
The delegation visited 40 acres of land in Umdhru amidst scenic beauty.
The delegation comprised three members from Cambodia, two from Indonesia, five from Malaysia, two from Papua New Guinea, seven from Thailand, and one representative from Côte d’Ivoire.
A private firm involved in rubber production- Omega Green Solution took the initiative of the field visit of the foreign delegation.
“This is a field visit. It is organized by our country to promote natural rubber production in the country. India is one of the member countries of ANRPC. This was the last activity of our conference. It will benefit the rubber sector in India,” said Omega Green Solutions assistant director M Bhola Nothagason.
“We are covering 2 lakh hectare rubber plantation in Northeast from 2021 to 26. We have already covered 70 thousand hectares of area. Assam is a potential area for rubber plantation. We are also expanding rubber plantation to Meghalaya,” he said.
A meeting was also held on the occasion which was presided over by Joshy John Kattaram, managing partner of Omega Green Solutions.
Officials from the Rubber Board also participated. Omega Green Solutions officials mentioned that last year they distributed 35 lakhs rubber tree seedlings in North East India through the Rubber Board, and this year they are targeting 56 lakhs of rubber tree seedlings for distribution.
ANRPC is an inter-governmental organisation established in 1970. The membership is open to the governments of countries producing natural rubber.
Currently, 13 countries are members, including India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.