Gas tech stretches tappers' yield

The Star

27-04-2025

Better results: Saad Abdul Razak, 76, showing the yield difference between a regular latex cup and the three-litre cup, with almost 2kg of coagulated latex collected after using the patented gassing technology. — Photo courtesy of Felda
SIK: Felda settler Suziah Abu Hassan could hardly believe her latest income statement.
In March last year, her monthly net income for that month was RM114.43 from the latex yield of the 2.7ha rubber estate she and her mother inherited from her late father.
Last month, her income statement from Felda showed that she pocketed RM4,344.99 as net income.
This year-on-year March comparison means the net income for her and her mother increased by a whopping 3,697.07%.
'Never in our lives, not even in my father's time, have we seen our trees produce so much latex.
'We are glad to have accepted Felda's latest agri-tech.
'Both mum and I are smiling every day,' she said.
Suziah, 51, was referring to a rubber tree stimulation technology that Felda, the Plantations and Commodities Ministry and the Malaysian Rubber Board, brought in after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced a RM10mil allocation for a pilot project using this technology under Budget 2024.
The trees are stimulated with ethylene gas and, according to scientific literature, the effects of this gas on rubber trees was discovered in the 1960s.
The issue was always dosage control.
Rubber trees can shrivel up or have their tree bark burst open when the dosage is uncontrolled.
The new technology, developed in Malaysia and patented in all rubber-producing Asean countries, provides a foolproof system to supply the right amount of gas to rubber trees without adverse effects.
'The cup we tie around our trees to collect latex usually holds 400ml to a litre.
'With the technology, we tie three-litre cups (the volume of two large soft drink bottles) to our trees.
'Just looking at the giant cups at the start, it was unbelievable,' Suziah said.
She said when it was first introduced to her settlement in Teloi Timur near here, most of the settlers refused to adopt it.
'But Felda held so many workshops to explain the technology to us and did extensive demo trials on trees in their own plots.
'I saw with my own eyes that the trees were still healthy and producing,' she said.
Other settlers have been watching Suziah. She said they have been urging her to push Felda to quickly supply everyone's plots with the gassing tech.
Felda's Kedah and Perlis regional director Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the pilot project would see 368,000 rubber trees be treated in stages.
He said the old method was to tap the trees every day but with this gassing tech, tapping is done only once every three days.
'When we tap every day, the latex will drip for only three to four hours, and only 80g to 100g of latex can be collected as coagulated cup lumps daily.
'With this gassing tech, the latex drips for about 48 hours and the cup lump is 1.5kg to 2kg each,' he said.
On average, Abdul Rahman said latex yield increased by about 600% per tree.
'When the trees produce so much, they need much more fertiliser.
'The standard is to apply fertiliser twice a year.
'With this tech, we have to apply a total of five times a year.
'Though the costs increase, the yield goes up by so much more,' he said.
Abdul Rahman also said Felda would continue with the pilot project while discussing with the government for funds to roll out the technology to Felda rubber estates nationwide.