He noted that empowering these local agricultural communities is essential to boost regional economic growth.
"There are around 2.1 million households of rubber farmers across Indonesia, mostly scattered throughout Sumatra and Kalimantan. This is an important matter to ensure that transmigration residents in current or former transmigration areas can increase their income and achieve prosperity," Mauladi said on Saturday.
To achieve this, he continued, there needs to be collaboration and synergy with all ministries, especially with technical ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), and the Ministry of Public Works.
This collaboration is intended to create a comprehensive policy approach to increase the productivity of rubber farmers, boost their income, and improve the quality of their tapping products to provide added value.
In addition, an industrialization process based on smallholder rubber farmers is also required so that they can gain added value to develop sustainably.
"Since ancient times, rubber has been a prime commodity, and it remains a prime commodity today because it is an export commodity. Indonesia is the second-largest exporter country of rubber after Thailand," Mauladi remarked.
However, he noted that challenges persist, given that around 90 percent of rubber farmers are smallholders, with only a small portion belonging to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies.
According to him, the first challenge is that rubber farmers need replanting because production has declined, considering most of the rubber trees are over 25 years old. Secondly, there is a need for an intensification for rubber plantations through fertilization, infrastructure network development, and other measures.
Thirdly, he added, research is necessary to develop new seeds to increase the productivity of rubber trees.
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Translator: Aji, Kenzu
Editor: Arie Novarina
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