Ministry to appoint agents to reduce rubber price manipulation

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SERIAN: Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities is planning to appoint agents to buy rubber products directly from the rubber tappers in an effort to reduce price manipulation by middlemen, revealed its minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

He added that even though there was lesser incidence of manipulation by the middlemen in Sarawak, the ministry would go ahead with its plan.

“What we can do is to appoint agents like what Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is doing. By doing this we will reduce the incidence of (price) manipulation by middlemen especially in the rural areas,” Dompok told the media after officiating at the Malaysian Rubber Board Clone Expansion Project at Kampung Lebor, near here yesterday.

He was responding to a call by local smallholders who have complained that the price of the commodity has fluctuated due to control by the middlemen.

On a related matter, Dompok said he would be bidding for a fund to plant some 25,000 hectares of rubber in Sarawak in the next five years.

“I am confident the government will provide the fund because rubber is now one of the 12 areas of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA). The government wants to add it together with palm oil,” said Dompok.

If successful, each participants will be allocated RM13,000 per hectare of rubber which will be planted throughout the state.

Currently there are some 158,491 hectares of rubber planted in Sarawak which are mostly owned by the smallholders.

“Our target is to identify other areas which are suitable for the crop,” he added.

Dompok revealed that under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the federal government had allocated some RM8.394 million for 1,450 hectares of rubber in 36 locations in Sarawak.

He said the scheme has already benefited 1,550 smallholders.

“There is definitely bright future for the local rubber industry,” stressed Dompok.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Rubber Board (MRB) secretary-general Datuk Dr Salmiah Ahmad revealed that some 250,000 smallholders have benefited from the scheme provided by MRB.

“Our research and development has enabled us to produce higher yield rubber trees which increased productivity of our smallholders,” she added.