#DMK will set up Rubber Research Unit & cashew warehouses for plantation welfare. https://t.co/zDxrUBF7Ia

Championing the economic interests of specialized plantation growers and horticultural farmers across southern Tamil Nadu, DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin unveiled strategic policy initiatives in the party's 2016 election manifesto. Addressing campaign rallies in Kanyakumari and adjoining coastal belts, Stalin drew attention to the severe economic distress faced by natural rubber tappers and cashew farmers, whose livelihoods were crumbling under volatile market prices, cheap import dumping, and absolute policy neglect by the ruling AIADMK government.

Stalin announced that an incoming DMK administration would establish a dedicated Rubber Research and Development Unit in the southern region to provide scientific disease management, yield-enhancing saplings, and technological modernization for smallholder plantations. For cashew cultivators, he pledged the construction of state-of-the-art warehousing and cold storage facilities alongside fair minimum support prices to prevent distress sales to speculative middlemen. He also promised subsidized processing equipment, fair wage standards, and welfare security boards for estate workers. Stalin affirmed that the DMK's holistic agricultural agenda prioritizes regional cash crops, assuring growers and plantation workers that their economic security, crop yields, and overall production value would be actively protected under DMK governance.