Philippines joins ANRPC

ERJ staff report (DS)

Kuala Lumpur - The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) said the Republic of the Philippines has become a Member effective from April 26, 2010. On behalf of the Government of the Philippines, Attorney Bernie G. Fondevilla, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, signed the instrument of accession.

Commercial cultivation of rubber in the Philippines has a history of more than a century. After the commercial introduction of the crop in the Island Province of Basilan in 1905, large-scale planting was undertaken in 1950s by Goodrich, Firestone and Goodyear respectively in the Provinces of Basilan, North Cotabato and Zamboanga del Sur. As smallholders entered into the picture, the period from 1972 to 1989 witnessed tremendous expansion in the country's rubber area. The area expansion suffered a major setback during the late 1990s when rubber prices collapsed, but made a dramatic return following the revival of the prices after 2003.

Today rubber occupies about 130,000 hectares in the Philippines. From an estimated 40 million mature trees, the country now annually produces 420,000 tonne of latex in wet weight which is approximately equivalent to 125,000 tonne of dry rubber content. Smallholders now dominate the sector by accounting for nearly 90% of the total output.

The government is implementing a National Rubber Development Programme which aims at expanding the cultivation to 500,000 hectare and improving the average annual yield from the present level of around 1 tonne per hectare to 2 tonne per hectare by 2016.

The ANRPC's 33rd Session of the Assembly and the meeting of the Executive Committee and two technical committees are scheduled to be held in Kochi (Cochin), India, in the first week of October this year. In conjunction with the same, the third ANRPC Annual Rubber Conference would be held on October 6 at the same venue.

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