Feature: Planting rubber trees can help reduce poverty in Aklan

By Venus G. Villanueva

Tuesday 3rd of July 2012

Can rubber trees help reduce poverty in Aklan?

A big yes, according to Aklan’s number one advocate of rubber trees – Governor Carlito Marquez, who never forgets to give the numerous advantages of planting them in the province during his various speaking engagements here nowadays.

According to him, a hectare could provide a planter P30,000 in net income per month.

Five years after planting rubber trees, latex, its main product and produces tires, rubber shoes, shoe soles, etc., could already be harvested.

His advocacy to plant rubber trees in Aklan started in 2011 when he delivered his State of the Province Address (SOPA) where he mentioned the plan to plant rubber trees.

As an offshoot of this plan, people from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) started scouting in the province if there are existing rubber trees in Aklan, later discovering that there are already 3 areas with rubber trees – Cabugao Altavas, which has 1,500 trees approximately 65 years old, Aklan State University (ASU) in Banga, which has 5 trees aging 35 years and in Alegria, Buruanga, which has 500 trees and only 4 years old.

Presently, the province is establishing scion grove/multiplier rubber tree plantation by procuring 4 promising clones placed in Castillo, Makato, Aklan.

This is to ensure sufficient and quality planting materials at affordable cost.

Planting materials/asexually propagated seedling production from scion grove established will be ready by 2014, the governor said.

By 2013 to 2014, the provincial government of Aklan, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit 6 or other private institutions will be procuring ready to plant budded rubber tree seedlings to be distributed to willing farmers – recipients without cost with the condition that the farmer-recipients will provide their land, labor and other input requirements needed until their rubber trees reach production stage.

“Technical assistance will be provided by the provincial government through the OPA,” Governor Marquez said.

By 2017, the provincial government through the Economic Enterprise Development Department (EEDD) will be establishing a processing plant and buy the latex harvest of the planters to assure market of the produce.

Recently, the drive in planting rubber trees in Aklan was further boosted when a month ago, the governor received a letter from an Aklanon engineer working as a senior electrical engineer at the Yokohama Tire Philippines in Clark Freeport, Pampanga.

In his letter to the governor, Jeremiah Joy Peniano said that during his vacation in Aklan this April, his father, a former employee of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) here mentioned the possibility of supplying a portion of the rubber requirement of his company.

Peniano told the governor that presently, his company, which is employing 1,700 employees, produces 22,000 tires per day, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“Currently, we are getting our rubber requirement from Thailand, Indonesia, Zamboanga and North Cotabato. In five years time and with our ongoing expansion, we are planning to double our production output and aiming to be Yokohama Rubber Corporation’s biggest tire factory in the world,” Peniano told the governor in his letter.

Peniano revealed that upon his return from Aklan, he brought the proposal to the Japanese management, who were quite positive with the proposal.

He added that with the RORO system already in place, transporting rubber products from Aklan will be one of its advantages.

Peniano said his company wants to pursue this venture with the provincial government and has asked for several data which will be relayed to Yokohama’s Japanese officers as initial information for the proposed venture.

“This is one way of helping our provincemates with the belief that ‘Owa it ginagaid sa kapobrehon’ (Nobody is forever bound to poverty),” Peniano told the governor in his letter.

“Owa it ginagaid sa kapobrehon” has long been Governor Marquez’ battlecry to defeat poverty in Aklan.

Planting rubber trees might just be one of the solutions. (JCM/VGV-PIA6 Aklan)