Sri Lanka Govt gives Cabinet nod to increase subsidy for rubber planting

Aug 23, 2018 (LBO) - Sri Lanka’s cabinet of Ministers has given the go ahead for increasing subsidies given to farmers for planting rubber in a bid to increase productivity in the industry, a statement said. The subsidy for new planting will be doubled to 300,000 rupees a hectare and the subsidy for replanting will be raised to 350,000 rupees from 175,000 rupees a hectare. "The government has recognises the need to raise productivity on rubber plantations which is far below that of other Asian rubber growers," a recently approved statement on approved Cabinet decisions said. As a long-term solution, the government will support farmers to replant aging, low-yielding rubber trees with high-yielding clones, it said. The proposal was put forward by Minister of Plantation Industries Navin Dissanayake for the increased subsidies.