SUMMARYIn addition to latex and timber, the rubber tree is useful in the alleviation of rural poverty and also in the mitigation of climate change through fixing atmospheric CO2as biomass. For developing any rubber-based carbon projects, protocols for quantifying biomass and carbon fixed are required. In this context, the present study was aimed at building up allometric models using simple growth indicators (i.e. tree diameter and total height) to assess the timber, biomass and carbon in rubber trees and also to quantify their ontogenetic variation under average growth conditions in two major climatic regimes (i.e. wet and intermediate) of Sri Lanka. All models developed were in the accuracy level of over 88%. The mean absolute percentage error in the validation of allometric models was only 12.9% for timber and less than 5% for biomass and carbon. Under average growth conditions, 1 ha of rubber could produce 208 m3timber, 191 MT biomass and fix 78 MT carbon during its 30-year lifespan in the wet zone and ca. 16% lesser values in the intermediate zone. The applicability of the findings in carbon trading is discussed.
With no sufficient land available for further cultivation of rubber in its traditionally grown wet areas to meet the increasing demand, the Government of Sri Lanka has targeted moderately dry areas of the country for the same. In collaboration with the peasant community, rubber is to be grown under rain fed condition together with traditional crops in these regions. Being a perennial crop which provides a long term source of income, an upliftment of rural livelihood is also expected in this exercise. Moreover, tree cover of the country is to be increased. In line with the country needs, rubber was established for the first time in the Intermediate zone of Eastern province with some farmers in a selected village. Since initial agronomic assessments were in favour of rubber cultivation in this region, a rapid livelihood analysis was carried out in the village to assess the association of this intervention with rural livelihood. Agricultural activities were confined to two seasons associated with a unimodel rainfall pattern. Strong socio-cultural interactions have made the rural livelihood rather sustainable. However, it operated at a low level in monitory terms with annual income and expenditure of a family in the range of Rs.55,000/=. Due to the dependency on seasonal crops, the income varied largely from month to month. Except for March -April and October -November, the income of the majority from agriculture was limited a value less than Rs.2,500 per month. Expenditure was mainly on subsistence and agriculture related activities and, generally below Rs.6,000 per household per month in most instances. Traditional New Year celebration in April and religious activities in May and June required an additional of ca. Rs.9,000. Demand for labour in rubber was year-round but not as high as for seasonal crops. There was a competition between rubber and other crops for labour at the beginning of Maha season (September to November), if rubber planting was undertaken. Farmers mostly planted rubber in an area of 0.2 to 0.4 ha in one occasion and also with traditional seasonal crops hence time allocation to rubber had no drastic impact on subsistence agriculture. Coping mechanisms of the society and the strategies to be placed in development programmes are also discussed.
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Importance of rubber cultivation 2.2 Development of rubber industry 2.3 Morphology of rubber 2.4 Climatic requirements of rubber 2.5 Mathematical approach to quantify the growth and yield of rubber 2.6 Rubber cultivation in Sri Lanka 2.7 Role of carbon in greenhouse effect 2.8 International interventions in climate change 2.9 Sri Lankan potential in carbon market 2.10 Economics of climate change 2.11 Economic evaluation 19 II 2.12 Economics in sustainable development 2.13 Practical valuation techniques 2.14 Benefit Cost Analysis 2.15 Implication of Benefit-Cost Analysis in economic analyses 39 2.16 Multicriteria analysis 43 2.17 Policy instruments for plantation management 43 2.18 Conceptual framework for rubber cultivation in Sri Lanka 46 CHAPTER 3 : GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF RUBBER UNDER 48 3.4.6 Biomass 71 3.4,6.1 Biomass distribution among different aboveground 71 components of the tree 3.4.6.2 Biomass distribution among different belowground 72 components of the tree 3.4.7 Organic carbon content 3.5 Discussion 74 CHAPTER 4 : MODELS FOR PREDICTING GROWTH AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF RUBBER 4.1 4.4.5 Relationship between timber log volume with diameter and total height of the tree 4.4.6 Relationship between biomass with diameter and total height of the tree 4.4.7 Relationship between carbon content with diameter and total 98 height of the tree 4.4.8 Validation of models developed for total timber, total biomass and total carbon of the tree 4.4.9 Development of yield tables 4.5 Discussion CHAPTER 5 ECONOMICS OF RUBBER CULTIVATION IN PLANTATION SECTOR OF SRI LANKA 5.1 5.4.5 Financial analysis of rubber under different scenarios 5.4.6 Economic analysis of rubber under different scenarios 5.5 Discussion CHAPTER 6 : ADOPTION AND PROFIABILITY OF PRINCIPAL RUBBER
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