@Agartala, Tripura State, 27-29 February 2024
As part of FSC Regional Forest Stewardship Standard for Smallholders in India (India RFSS) pilot test, the fourth RFSS Workshop, and the first during 2024, was held at Agartala, Tripura state during 27-29 Feb 2024.
The workshop specifically focused on the rubber sector as all the smallholders in Tripura are rubber planters. Natural rubber is the most important cash crop in Tripura. Since its introduction in 1963 by the State Forest Department, Tripura has become 2nd largest producer of natural rubber in the country, after Kerala, accounting for about 9% of the total production of India.
About 30 stakeholders including Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF), Principal Secretary (Forest), Chief Conservator of Forests, Conservator of Forests, Deputy Conservator of Forests from the forest department; Managing Director- Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC) , Executive Director and divisional managers from TFDPC, Joint Commissioner - Rubber Board, Development Officer - Rubber Board, Managing Director -Tripura Latex Ltd., Sr Vice-President (Rubber Business) DS Group, Unit Head-DS Group Thread Unit, Hima Rubber Ltd, Director-Alamode Furniture etc. attended the two-day event. The workshop was followed by visits to the processing and manufacturing facilities, and rubber plantations. There are about 1,00,000 smallholder rubber planters in Tripura.
Dr Suresh Gairola, FSC India Country Director talked about the salient features of the ongoing pilot test of FSC standard for smallholders and requested the organizations to participate. He explained how this standard for less than 20-hectare plantations is much simpler than India FSS & how export to European Union will be severely impacted once European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) becomes applicable after December 2024 and how to move forward for attaining sustainability in the sector of rubber plantations. He requested Rubber Board officials, forest corporation and DB Group to actively participate in arranging group forest management certification for smallholders in Tripura. The participants freely expressed their views on the sustainability challenges being faced by planters and wood- based industries in Tripura.