Increasing International Demand

	Rubber tree products are increasing in price

he availability of fertile land around the area of Kampung Batu Sawar is a major contributing factor to the agriculture activity in this area. Approximately 900-hectares of land have been allocated for individual or cluster agriculture. From this number, a hundred hectares is used for rubber tree plantation, the main agriculture here.

There are also rubber tappers from the surrounding villages who work at rubber estates owned by the villagers of Kampung Batu Sawar. Normally, the rubber tappers will tap rubber for two to three weeks before the hardened latex produced by them are sold to the middlemen. The rubber tapers get assistance in the form of fertilisers and rubber saplings from the Rubber Industry of Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) of the Temerloh District.

Due to the increasing world demand of rubber-based products, the price of rubber has increased to RM3.00 per kilogram. The rubber tappers are positively-affected by the price increase. Now, they can live in comfort.

There are a few villagers who become oil palm smallholders and most of them are relatively new in this industry. The increasing world price of oil palm could generate around RM700.00 per tonne.

Basically, the oil palm tree will bear fruit once every three to four months. RISDA also provides training and oil palm saplings to alleviate the burden of the villagers in Kampung Batu Sawar.