KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Plantation and Commodities (KPK) is examining a model of consolidation or unification of rubber smallholders in clusters of 500 to 1,000 hectares (ha) to increase rubber production capacity and reduce costs, involving three levels in the value chain of the rubber industry i.e. upstream, midstream and downstream.
KPK said this cluster proposal is expected to be implemented in three states that have a high concentration of uncultivated areas, namely Kelantan (34,621 ha), Kedah (24,058 ha) and Pahang (19,481 ha).
“We are aware of 420,000 ha of rubber trees that have matured but have not been tapped. This is due to two factors, the lack of tappers and the low price of rubber.
"Through the cluster concept, the marketing chain can be shortened where the rubber processing factory buys rubber directly from the smallholder cluster that is formed and then gives a more favourable price to the smallholder," the KPK said on the parliament's website today in a written reply to a question from Datuk Awang Hashim (PN-Pendang) who asked the ministry to state plans to increase the number of estates that are tapped and what are the short and long term plans to increase rubber productivity in order to help tappers earn higher incomes.
According to the KPK, of the 1.1 million ha of rubber estate area in Malaysia, 93 per cent are made up of smallholders and seven per cent of estates. A total of 217,000 smallholders are involved in natural rubber production in Malaysia with 195,000 active smallholders renewing their Rubber Transaction Authority Permit every three years.
KPK said the government does not plan to increase the area of plantations, but instead wants to focus on efforts to increase the production of natural rubber from existing rubber trees by introducing policies to encourage more tappers.
In 2023, Malaysia produced 348,000 tonnes of natural rubber compared to 377,00 tonnes in 2022, while Malaysia imported one million tonnes of natural rubber worth RM5.7 billion compared to 1.16 million tonnes worth RM7.2 billion in 2022.
-- BERNAMA
TAGS: KPK, Rubber, Rubber Transaction Authority Permit
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