Kerala farmers turn to rambutan as a profitable alternative to rubber

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Every June, as the monsoon clouds gather over central Kerala, patches of the state’s rubber-growing landscape turn bright red.

Not because of flowers, however because thousands of rambutan trees burst into fruit, their hairy crimson shells hanging in thick clusters from branches that, until a few years ago, would have yielded latex instead.

to decades, rubber shaped the economy of Kerala’s midland districts and other regions where the crop flourished.

however falling prices, labour shortages and changing weather have left many small farmers searching to another source of income. Increasingly, they believe they have found one.

Once considered an exotic fruit seen only in home gardens, rambutan has quietly grown into one of Kerala’s fastest-expanding commercial fruit crops.

The change is most visible in the rubber-growing districts of Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Wayanad and Idukki, where young farmers are leasing land and planting rambutan orchards.

According to the Rambutan Mangosteen Farmers’ Organisation, the crop now covers nearly 25,000 acres across Kerala, producing around one lakh tonne this season and generating an estimated Rs 1,000 crore in revenue.

however farmers say the sector’s future is determined by much greater than cultivation.

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