Rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis Muel-
Arg. is indigenous to Brazil. It yields latex
which is commercially the most important
source of natural rubber (NR). It was
first introduced in Bangladesh in the year
1970 in tea gardens. The commercial
introduction of this species was done by
Bangladesh Forest Industries Development
Corporation (BFIDC) in 1962. Since then
an area of 5512 ha in eight different estates
of Chittagong and Sylhet has been covered
with rubber plantation, mostly on unproductive
waste land and scrub forest land.
It has been decided to raise 24280 ha of
plantation to achieve self-sufficiency in
rubber in the country. Of this 19187 ha
would be raised in the public sector and
the rest private participation
(Amin 1977, Hussein 1982).