Livelihood and economic struggles of rubber cultivators and challenges and issues of rubber production: a case study based on Farnam division in Puwakpitiya

Abstract

Considering the economic related production in Sri Lanka, there are multiple works are being as backbone from decades. Rubber production played a vital role in uplifting country’s economy in the previous days. Nowadays it’s facing many difficulties in the production, cultivation and marketing. This study mainly focusses on the indicated issues and the cultivator’s economic and livelihood struggles in the Farnam division in Puwakpitiya. Observation, questionnaire survey and interview methods have been conducted to gather raw data from the field. And previously conducted researches and reports have been review in order to find the gap of the study and relevant materials. According to the accumulation of the primary data, it seems most of the problems are related with the low income of the cultivators. At the same time, soil, fertilizer, way of handling the trees while weeping and diseases and insect attacks are the main challenges faced in the rubber production. Major suggestions given for further excessive production and mitigation to the specified problems. And some solutions discussed to improve the wellbeing of the plantation workers and sustainable improvement in the Rubber production.