Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said here on Monday, replanting of natural rubber has become a long term policy resulted in the Special Ministerial Committee Meeting of the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC).
The meeting held on Feb 22 was initiated by three natural rubber producers, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
"Rubber has never been systematically replanted since its first cultivation 100 years ago. The government has prepared strategies to start the replanting program. We will do it gradually to reach 50 thousand hectares," he said.
Nasution said, rubber replanting has been conducted by the Agriculture Minister but it only covered an area of 6 thousand hectares, while the total rubber plantation area in Indonesia has reached 3.6 million hectares.
Therefore, the government would speed up the replanting program to reach 50 thousand hectares per year.
The three main natural rubber producers have agreed the Supply Management Scheme (SMS) for the replanting program.
In addition to Indonesia, Thailand has also planned to optimize its replanting program to cover 60 thousand hectares per year, while Malaysia will replant 25 thousand hectares of rubber plantation per year.
The SMS would play an important role in reaching a balance on supply and demand by accelerating the natural rubber replanting.
In a bid to avoid oversupply, Indonesia has decided that only 60 percent of the land would be replanted with rubber, while the remaining area would be cultivated for other commodities such as cocoa and horticulture crops.
"To avoid a surge in production, people can choose to plant other commodities such as coffee, cocoa or other exported commodities. If we can replant a large area per year, we can temporarily reduce the production," he said.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed on the implementation of three policies to help boost rubber price that has reached its lowest level during 2018 and 2019.
In short term, the countries would manage supply of natural rubber. For medium term, they would increase domestic consumption of natural rubber, and for long term, they will conduct natural rubber replanting.
Reporting by Mentari Dwi Gayati
Editing by Suharto, Fardah Assegaf
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