Raw natural rubber is processed into a number of more value-added products at the Research and Standardization Industry Center in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Tuesday (14/3). Rubber farmers in Lubuk Sebontan village, Muara Papalik district, West Tanjung Jabung regency, Jambi, take part in natural rubber processing to make things like vulcanized tires, motor vehicle parts, shoes and sandals and wheelchairs.
As many as 10 rubber farmers traveled for as long as 400 kilometers for about 12 hours from Lubuk Sebontan village in Muara Papalik subdistrict, Tanjung Jabung Barat district, Jambi province, to the city of Palembang. They went to the capital of South Sumatra province to learn how to process raw rubber into more valuable goods.
At present, they only sell latex in its raw form. They are often cheated by middlemen in a trade that is controlled by international prices. The 10 rubber farmers were part of a group of people who were relocated to a number of areas in Java to Lubuk Sebontan village during a period between 1992 and 1993 as part of a government-sponsored transmigration program. From the beginning, they were directed to become rubber farmers. Each family was given two hectares of land.
Due to a limitation of knowledge, they only sold the rubber in its raw form. At first, it was not a problem as the price of raw rubber was high in the 1990s. In fact, they enjoyed windfall when rubber prices skyrocketed to Rp 20,000 per kilogram (kg) in 2005. Many farmers suddenly became rich.
"We were complacent with the high price of raw rubber during that time," said Mujiono, 52, a rubber farmer of Lubuk Sebontan at the Research and Standardization Center of Industry (BRSI) in Palembang on Tuesday.
However, everything changed when the price of raw rubber fell to its lowest price of Rp 1,500 per kg in 2008. All rubber farmers were hit hard. Many of them borrowed from the middlemen based on the old rubber price, which was quite high. Borrowing money from themwas a common practice among the farmers to meet their daily needs. They would be asked to pay their debts when harvest came.
However, most of the farmers were unable to pay their debts because the amount borrowed was far higher than the standard prices at the time. In order to be able to survive and settle the debt repayment, farmers took side jobs. Some worked at oil palm plantations while others became construction workers. “Many rubber plantations were then abandoned," said Mujiono, one of the oldest residents in Lubuk Sebontan.
Village funds
Farmers began to think about changing the way they sold their crops after raw rubber prices fell to as low as Rp 2,000 per kg in 2014 and 2015. They were aware that the price of raw rubber was very unstable. "Selling raw rubber is like gambling," said Mujiono, who originates from Gunung Kidul district, Yogyakarta.
Their intention was supported by the head of Lubuk Sebontan village, as well as the chairman of the chapter of the Indonesian Rubber Farmers Association in Tanjung Jabung regency, Hairan, who invited them to learn how to process raw rubber.
In early 2017, village funds for Lubuk Sebontan village were mostly allocated to a finance economic empowerment program for the local people–mostly rubber farmers.
Through the office of Industry and Trade of Tanjung Jabung Barat, and BRSI Palembang, the rubber farmers from Lubuk Sebontan were offered to take part in a training program. With approximately Rp 25 million from Lubuk Sebontan village funds, 10 rubber farmers were selected and sent to a rubber processing training center at BRSI Palembang from March 6 to March 16.
At the training center, they learned how to process raw rubber into a number of products, such as retread tire, auto parts, shoes, sandals and wheelchairs. They took part in the training under the guidance of six to seven researchers at BRSI Palembang from eight in the morning to five in the evening every day.
While in Palembang, they rented a house for Rp 2 million for 10 days. The payment for training, housing and transportation waspaid for using the village funds. "We paidfor all costs of living in Palembang," said Sutaryo, 38, the head of the village fund committee in Lubuk Sebontan village, who also took part in the training at BRSI Palembang.
Promising
Sutaryo said a number of products made from processed rubber presented promising prospects. Processed products do not require a lot of raw materials. The product is durable and has a stable price. For example, making a retread tire only requires half a kilogram of raw rubber. The money needed for the processing of raw rubber is about Rp 40,000 per tire, while the selling price of a retread tire is around Rp 60,000 per tire. The manufacturing process takes between 20 to 30 minutes.
A brighter future awaits the farmers if the results of the training can be immediately applied in their village. Moreover, raw rubber as a raw material is abundant in the village. There are 320 hectares of rubber plantations in Lubuk Sebontan. The average yield reaches 125 kg to 165 kg per hectare. The rubber can be harvested four times a month. "However, we have not been able to buy rubber processing equipment. We only have about Rp 600 million in village funds per year. The funds are divided for a number of village programs, especially infrastructure," Sutaryo said.
The price of rubber processing equipment ranges from between Rp 50 million to Rp 70 million per unit. Tire retread processing tools, for example, costs Rp 17 million to Rp 20 million per unit; motorcycle parts processing equipment costs roughly Rp 3 million per unit; and shoe and sandal making equipment costs around Rp 5 million per unit.
The section head of industrial technology at BRSI Palembang, Nasruddin, said rubber industrializationin Indonesia, especially South Sumatra, had become a necessity. Moreover, according to Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries data, Indonesia is the second largest natural rubber producer in the world after Thailand.
In the last three years, Indonesia\'s rubber production has reached 3.1 million tons per year. South Sumatra is the largest rubber producer in the country with 0.93 million tons per year. However, most of the rubber is sold in its raw form. The domestic industries only absorb 0.60 million tons a year. "Selling raw rubber is very detrimental to farmers. They do not have bargaining power because the price of raw rubber depends on the world market. If the rubber is sold in processed form, farmers have more bargaining power. The price of the product can be higher and stable," said Nasruddin.
