As GRI continues to support farming communities and strengthen its own natural rubber farmer base through the Green X Circle initiative, the company has opened a rubber collection center based in the Monaragala District of Buttala, Sri Lanka.
The center was established to provide further benefits to the farming community and to ensure a fair price is paid for natural rubber. It will also provide capacity-building programs to enhance the rubber yield and its sustainability.
“We are not only purchasing rubber, but are also fostering a greater aim, which is the Green X Circle,” explained Mahesha Ranasoma, CEO of GRI. “Through this initiative, we connect the rubber farmer to the crop farmer, who is the end user of the GRI agricultural tires both in Sri Lanka and globally. We manufacture the tires using the rubber produced by the rubber farmer, and the crop farmer uses the tires to produce his harvest, which in turn is consumed by us as food. The Green X Circle is a sustainable ecosystem that brings all stakeholders together.”
The Green Circle initiative involves GRI, rubber farmers, crop farmers and tire dealers, who are the intermediaries. The Green X Circle ecosystem supports multiple communities and helps to form the relationships that are beneficial to all parties involved.
Working together with the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka (RRI), GRI provides training programs to help build the capacity of natural rubber farmers. Included in the training are lessons on sustainable practices, efficient rubber tapping techniques and the correct farming methods to ensure that the natural rubber farmers have increased yields of high quality.
