Govt lacks resources to help rubber farmers bounce back
Govt lacks resources to help rubber farmers bounce back
The government lacks the means to help farmers recover from their loss-making ventures after the market price of rubber has slumped in recent years.
With limited funding available, the government has resorted to asking neighbouring countries to help provide markets for rubber products and seeking to benefit from their experience and advice.
Regulations and policy on the management, promotion and development of the rubber sector do not follow any particular system and are largely ineffective, the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) reported.
Laos also has no specific leading committee and strategy to grow the country's rubber industry and there are few experts in the field.
Farmers are still suffering from the low price commanded by rubber on the world market, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Marketing and sale prices are also determined by the owners of rubber plantations in Laos, as most of the rubber crop is destined for export.
The rubber price in Laos was 10,630 kip per kg in 2006, then rose to 17,190 kip in 2010, but plummeted to 5,320 per kg last year, NAFRI reported.
At the end of last month, rubber was selling for about 8,000 kip per kg in Vientiane, but the ministry could not say how long this higher price would last.
Until 2014 rubber plantations covered about 282,000 hectares, mostly in the north of the country. Of this, 46 percent was farmed under land concessions, 30 percent by local farmers, and 24 percent under contract farming.
Some farmers have sold their farms, while some have begun growing other commercial crops after taking a beating from the price dive on the world market.
The government is seeking assistance from China by tapping into that country's marketing and business experience, as China is a large rubber importer.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is also trying to provide assistance with the growing, tapping and storage of rubber in order to increase quality and therefore the sale price.
Rubber entrepreneurs are advised to process the crop before export in line with market demand, as many growers are still selling raw rubber, which fetches a lower price.
Labour development and social welfare in the rubber sector is also an important aspect of the industry and should not be neglected, the ministry advised.
But this work will not be successful without cooperation from every sector of government and private industry, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr Lien Thikeo said at a meeting this week.
Laos does not have a labour shortage problem in the rubber sector following the price slide, but it is envisaged that gathering a sufficiently large workforce to work on plantations in the event that the price rises in the future will be problematic.
