MALAYSIA: Rubber tappers turn to farming vegetables

With rubber prices not showing signs of increasing, some smallholders have shifted their attention to vegetable farming, not just to ease their burden, but also to reduce food expenses.

They found that selling vegetables, such as long beans, chilli, ladies fingers, spinach, winged beans and cucumber, at farm prices enabled them to earn five times more than tapping rubber on a 2.4ha smallholding.

“I can earn RM100 a day selling vegetables, compared with RM20 tapping rubber,” said Zuraidah Azahari, 39, from Kampung Seri Kenangan in Setiu. Zuraidah and her son, Mohd Faizul Yusman, 21, used to wake up early to tap rubber and collect the coagulated rubber the following day before selling it to a wholesaler. “Tapping rubber is hard work and the return is not worth the effort. But I still have to tap once in a while. My main income comes from vegetable farming. … My costs are fertilizers and pesticides that I buy once a month. I can earn RM1,200 a month and I am not worried about surplus. The prices for vegetables are reasonable.” Zuraidah said. She had been farming since the middle of last year.

Fellow villagers and rubber tappers Mat Yusof Ngah, 56, and his wife, Rokiah Sulaiman, 52, turn to growing cucumber and rearing chicken and goats following the price of coagulated rubber. Yusof said: “We have no problem selling goat’s milk and chickens. Eggs are sold to food stall operators, who also buy cucumber. I earn more this way compared with selling rubber.” The couple said the drop in rubber price was a blessing in disguise as more villagers had switched to farming vegetables and hope that the state Agriculture Department could teach them how to maximize production.

Source: Daily “The New Straits Times”, Kuala Lumpur; 4 Mar 2016
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)