Once battling poverty, several tribal villages in Odisha’s Gajapati district have now found a steady and sustainable livelihood through rubber farming, a venture that has turned into a symbol of economic empowerment and rural development, sources said on Sunday.

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Spearheaded by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) in Parlakhemundi town and supported by the Rubber Board, rubber cultivation began around 25 years ago on an experimental basis.

Initially, 6,400 saplings were planted across 15 hectares. Now-a-days, more than 400 hectares across over 20 villages such as Munising, Barangasing, Upper Abasing, Sukai, and Tarabha are flourishing with rubber plantations.

The process involves extracting latex fro

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