The Philippine government targets to leg-up its rubber production by widening its rubber plantation to 200,000 ha by 2016.
Merly Cruz, Trade Undersecretary said on Tuesday that the country’s rubber plantation will be legged-up from 138,710 to 200,000 hectares in 2016 with the increase of 10,000 hectares every year from 2010.
She also added that 5,000 employment opportunities can be created annually at one job per two hectares ratio.
Whist 99 percent of the rubber plantation in the country is Mindanao, potential areas have been discovered in Visayas and some pocket plantations are emerging in some parts of Luzon, said the Assistant Regional Trade Director Sitti Amina Jain.
The Philippine rubber production is very small with 1.1 percent of the global total as most Filipino rubber farmers only own three to 10 hectares of land. (PRA)