socio-economic profile of rubber tappers in the small holding sector

are unemployed. He has a land area of half an acre of his own from which he gets an
annual income of Rs. 3000/-. He taps 300 trees of his neighbour. The annual total income
of the household is Rs.14000/-. He is struggling to meet the day-to-day expenses. At the
same time he has been suffering from unsickable back pain for five years. He has not
approached a doctor because he fears that may lead to a medical treatment, which is not
affordable. What he is doing now is using some painkilling balm and ointment. Most of
the sample households depend on government hospitals for medical purpose. The
average annual medical expense is estimated as Rs. 1204/-. i.e., 5.9 percentage of total
expenditure.
2.1.9 Debt position
Out of two hundred sample households, 86.5 percentage are indebted. Important
sources of their debt are commercial banks, co-operative banks, moneylenders,
merchants, friends and relatives. Rate of interest varies depending
Table 2.9
Distribution of Sample House Holds according to Debt
Debt (in Rs.) Number of house holds Percentage
Below 1000 27 13.50
1000-2000 26 13.00
2000-5000 43 21.50
5000-10000 25 12.50
10000-15000 19 9.50
15000-25000 25 12.50
25000-35000 16 8.00