Rubber farmers from the North Cotabato, Philippines are depending on the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to help alleviate their situation through a program that will put in place village-level processing facilities.
A statement by the PRDP quoted one of the local farmers, saying that rubber shows the highest potential in terms of elevating the farmers’ income but because of the low buying price of cup lumps, they proposed to scale up the production to processing and marketing. The statement also added that traders in their area buy low because the farmers could only sell cup lumps, not latex which commands high prices.
The program, which has a Php14.9 million budget and is aided by a component of the PRDP called Investments in Rural Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity, will allow farmers to sell rubber sheets instead of rubber cup lumps. The PRDP said the intervention will benefit about 300 small rubber growers in the province. The program also has components for enterprise development and natural resources preservation.
PaquitoLaquihon, general manager of the Muslim-Lumad-Christian Marketing Cooperative, which will handle the program, said that aside from failing to add value to their produce, the long dry spell that hit the country since last year has also affected their production.
Based on the projection of the project, rubber farmers will raise their income to Php3,900 from Php2,400 a month, while tappers will be able to raise their income to Php2,160 a month.
Several other cooperatives, like Antipas Cotabato Rubber Growers’ Association, Hugpong Mag-uumaSa Fatima Cooperative, Community-Based Forest Management Farmers’ Association, and North Cotabato Rubber Development Cooperative, are also part of the project.
The PRDP said each of the cooperatives will cover about 140 ha of tappable areas and will receive a rubber sheeter and weighing scale. These cooperatives will provide the rubber sheets to Laquihon’s cooperative which would serve as consolidator. Each cooperative is expected to produce about 170 metric tonnes in the first year and increase production to 240 metrics the following year while expanding their respective production areas by at least 20 ha.
“There is a big economic impact for the community when this enterprise kicks off [and this] will expand to other towns in the province because there are still available, undeveloped lands for expansion of rubber production,” said Cynthia P. Ortega, acting head of the North Cotabato Provincial Planning and Development Office.
She noted the province is considered the top raw rubber producer at about 40,000 tonnes annually, or 38% of the country’s total production.