RUBBER PRODUCTION: A study by MRB shows that the smallholders’ national average for production was only 1.43 tonnes or 1.44 tonnes per hectare annually.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) will conduct a census this year to collect information on the types of rubber clone planted by smallholders nationwide to determine the percentage of high-yieldng clones being used by them, said director-deneral Datuk Dr Salmiah Ahmad.
The information collected from the census would enable MRB to advise planters to replace poor clones with high-yielding strains to help them attain better output and boost their incomes, she said in an interview with Bernama recently.
A study by MRB showed that the smallholders’ national average for production was only 1.43 tonnes or 1.44 tonnes per hectare, annually, while estates produced about 1.6 tonnes per hectare because the former did not use high-yielding clones.
“We have produced clones that can boost latex production up to three tonnes or 3,000 kilogrammes per hectare,” said Dr Salmiah.
Up until end-2009, smallholders in Peninsular Malaysia constituted the bulk of the land hectarage under rubber at an estimated 732,280 hectares.
Sabah and Sarawak together have 228,260 hectares of rubber cultivation bringing the national total area to 1.021 million hectares.
Dr Salmiah said MRB’s clone inspectors, together with those from the Rubber Industry Smalholders Development Authority and the Federal Land Development Authority, were also keen to join hands with nurseries to verify clones at their budwood centres to ensure they only recommended high-yielding clones to be supplied to smallholders and estates.
MRB recently established the Malaysian Rubber Budwood Centre in Similajau, Sarawak, to ensure sufficient supply of quality clones to nurseries and smallholders.
“Smallholders have to do budding, then they will get the right clones.
We don’t want smallholders to just pick up seeds under the tree and plant them.
That is not the right way,” said Dr Salmiah.
She said MRB was also focusing on introducing more automation in the rubber industry as 95 per cent of the rubber plantations were owned by smallholders above 55 years old.
“I hope we can come out with something by the end of this year,” said Dr Salmiah.
She said MRB had also successfully produced latex timber clones, a two-in-one concept where the planters could have latex and wood as well.
In another development, she said MRB was keen to assist interested companies to invest in rubber plantations by identifying suitable areas in Sabah and Sarawak.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said recently that his ministry was targeting to plant high-yielding rubber trees covering 500,000 hectares in Sarawak and 300,000 hectares in Sabah.