Who We are
About Us
Incepted, owned and governed by the farmers, RubFarm Producer Company Ltd, is the one and only Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) in rubber sector, being promoted by the Small Farmers Agri- Business Consortium (SFAC), Government of Kerala, under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.(RKVY) programme for the promotion of FPOs in Kerala. We have our registered office at Pala, in Kottayam District, Kerala.
Our Vision
To create a farmer- centered, nature conscious and environment friendly society where farming is valued and farmer is respected. In such a society RubFarm will act as an information hub or a facilitation centre where farmers find answers for all their queries, solutions for all their problems and fulfilment of all their needs.
Our Mission
To introduce a paradigm shift in the field of agriculture, moving up the farmers from the bottom line of the value chain to the pinnacle of production pyramid by pooling up all their resources, transforming rubber raw- materials into value added products, eliminating intermediaries from the value chain and realizing an extra income for farmers in the form of dividend and ‘patronage bonus’.
Our Theory of Change
The Indian Rubber grower scenario mostly comprises of small and very small growers who own less than 0.56 hectares of land. Rubber being an industrial crop needs to be primarily processed and most of the processing is done in the cooperative and private sector .The final processing or production of value added goods is carried out in the industrial sector comprising of medium and large industry in the tyre and automotive sector and small and MSME in the non-tyre sector.
The noble objective of the company is to empower rubber growers to move up the value chain and make them entrepreneurs by producing value-added products from natural rubber. RubFarm Producer Company Ltd. aspires to be a diversified utility product manufacturing company in the rubber sector and uses natural rubber produced by our growers. Its plan is to work in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) as well as Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) space where huge potential exists.
As you are aware, in India, rubber growers are at the bottom of the value chain with a price crisis of their primary produce. The cost of production has been above the farm gate price for the past 7 to 8 years and hence farming has become unremunerative to the rubber growers. As a consequence of this price fall, over 30% of the area is not being tapped at present. At the same time, ironically products made from it always fetch fairly good prices and go up exponentially. Therefore, value addition through product manufacturing at the farm level would be a solution to make rubber cultivation economically sustainable.
RubFarm Producer Company Ltd. aims to develop a chain of small rubber manufacturing units across RPS and provide common facilities for product manufacturing including infrastructure, technology, and marketing. These extended organizations could also serve as a marketing arm to promote the sale of these products. The profits generated from these operations could be ploughed back to the farmers thereby improving their farm income. The noble objective of the company is also to empower rubber growers to move up the value chain and make them entrepreneurs by producing value-added products from natural rubber.
Key Facts
- India Natural Rubber Grower is at the bottom of the value chain & in Distress.
- Price controlled by Tyre. Companies and product manufacturing companies who are major consumers.
- Cost of production has been above the farm gate price for last 7-8 years. • Farming has become unremunerative – Almost 30% area is not getting tapped.
- India has become a net importer of Rubber as production dropped.
- Solution is Entrepreneurship development of Rubber Growers through Rubber Products manufacturing.
The Germination of RubFarm
What is the way out? A bunch of farmers from various rubber producing societies (RPS) from Central Travancore sat around the table to wrestle out a solution for this dilemma, which was fueled by Farmer Empowerment Programme organized by Andreaes Herimis Academy(AHA),a farmer training organization from Germany, from 2016 to 2021. At the close of the programme, rubber farmers from every nook and corner of Kerala were asked to voice their opinions. Everybody was unanimous in one thing- ‘A Farmer Producer Company Manufacturing Vale-added Rubber Products’. Eventually, that became the seed bed of RubFarm. A year later, incorporating 317 shareholders from 25 FIG (Farmer Interest Group) out of various RPS in Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam districts, RubFarm was born on 23 May 2022.
Why RubFarm?
- A Theory of Change
The Indian rubber grower’s scenario mostly comprise of small and marginal growers who own less than 0.56 hectors of land. But the final processing on the production of value-added goods is carried out in the industrial domain consisting of medium and large industries in automotive sector, especially tyre industry. Natural rubber growers, being at the bottom of value chain, have no role in price control and so they are at the receiving end. Farming has become uneconomical as the cost of production have gone beyond farm gate price for the last one decade. To make it worse, India has turned out to be an importer of rubber. On this deplorable backdrop, rubber farming has become a self-immolation blue whale game.
Our Activities
a) Business Activities
- Planting Material Supply
We provide rubber planting materials to North-Eastern states as per the demand of rubber board. - Advisory Council
RubFarm acts as an advisory council for farmers’ agri-business projects and help them to realize it.
b)HRD Activities
We are resolute to embark on any endeavors that would result in empowerment of farmers family and workers. So, we are pleased to provide
1. Training for farmers
2. Awareness Programmes for all sections of the society.
3. Workshops
4. Seminars
Opportunities With Us
You can be a farmer lover, well wisher or shareholder of RubFarm. More than that, we like you to be in our company as:
- A distributor
- A dealer
- An intern
- A staff
Send your CV’s to rubfarmco@gmail.com
