More shared service facilities (SSFs) will be turned over by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to rubber growers’ cooperatives and associations next month in Zamboanga Peninsula, particularly in the province Zamboanga Sibugay.
Sitti Amina Jain, DTI regional director, told local media that the agency’s help “will continue to nurture the rubber industry through further trainings and the provision of SSFs for rubber farmers”.
Ms. Jain said there will be coordination with members of the Philippine Rubber Benchmarking Mission to India for technical assistance that can be extended to local rubber growers. A local delegation, headed by Ms. Jain, will be leaving for India on March 23.
Alfonso Jack Fran Sandique, chief executive officer of Platinum Rubber Development Corp., based in Makilala, North Cotabato, said during a rubber production seminar here last week that modern technologies should be applied in production and processing.
In order to gain higher returns on investment, Mr. Sadique said mechanization could be the key. Most rubber farmers in Mindanao, he said, still rely on traditional methods and old-fashioned technologies. This leads to low yield as well as poor quality of rubber produced, falling below international standards.
Based on data gathered by Platinum Rubber, the current system of production on the island brings farmers only P5,000 per hectare monthly. Efficient rubber farming could bring in up to P21,000 per hectare monthly, or four times the return on traditional farms in terms of investments.
Mr. Sandique said he hopes that local government units and other concerned agencies are assisting the growers in the region, just as the provincial government of North Cotabato supports rubber farmers by providing new technologies.
Ms. Jain said she would spearhead a benchmarking mission to Mr. Sandique’s Platinum Rubber farms, tentatively in June, to be participated in by interested local rubber growers.
Source: Business World Online
Published: 18 Mar 2014