GOALPARA, Dec 17 ? Goalpara district, within a short span of 17 years has emerged as a major rubber producing district not only in Assam but the entire country. If, tempted by the success of the growers of the district, unemployed youths, particularly those having cultivable land (even fallow land) take up rubber cultivation scientifically, not only could we expect tremendous socio-economic change at micro and macro level, but also foreign exchange.
This note of expectation transpired from the deliberations at the two-day workshop of rubber growers organised by Ajagar Social Circle at Agia Natya Mandir, about 14 km away from here on December 11 and 12.
Following a training programme of the growers and prospective growers on December 11, the workshop was inaugurated on the following day by Sri ML Jose Maxwell, joint rubber production commissioner of the Rubber Board. In his address, Maxwell praised the Ajagar growers for being able to sell one truck of rubber sheet weekly and urged the growers to utilise their loans for quantitative and qualitative upgradation of the sheet rubber. In this connection, the officer disclosed that a community processing centre with an outlay of Rs 10 lakh is expected soon at Rangsapara for the benefit of the local growers.
Prasanta Baruah, field officer of the Board at Agia, to whom the credit mainly goes for constant inspiration and monitoring the plantation, exhorted the growers to maintain quality at all costs and threw light on different aspects of the crop.
The Rubber Research and Training Centre at Sonapur with an outlay of Rs 12 crore and an information cell, for which sanction had been received would go a long way in boosting rubber production in the region, Baruah hoped.
Dharmendra Nath, Hareswar Rabha, Hiren Kalita and Shyama Das also addressed the growers and enriched the agenda with experienced suggestions.
Sanjib Kr Rabha of Tilapara village, Golendra Marak of Pandoba village and Dambaru Rabha of Tilapara village whose rubber sheets won first, second and third prizes respectively in a competition joined by 51 growers, were given prizes by different rubber dealer companies in the workshop.