Rubber plantations destroyed due to sharp price drop

In many provinces and cities across the country, people are destroying rubber gardens to switch to other short-term agricultural crops due to the sharp drop in rubber latex prices.

Not only were 2-3 year old rubber plantations cut down, but rubber plantations that were producing latex were also mercilessly cut down by farmers. Others were not exploited by garden owners because the latex revenue was not enough to cover labor costs.

Cutting down rubber trees because revenue is not enough to cover expenses

On a mid-June evening, in the middle of the rubber forest of Vinh Thach commune (Vinh Linh, Quang Tri), hot smoke and acrid smell wafted into his face and spread everywhere. Mr. Ho Van Thanh said he was burning the dry leaves of a rubber garden of more than 1.5 hectares that had just been sawed close to the roots in time for the machine to dig up the roots the next day, preparing for short-term planting.

People in Vinh Hien commune, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province cut down rubber trees to plant short-term crops.

According to Mr. Thanh, this rubber area was planted in 1996 and is being exploited. However, since the beginning of 2014, the amount of latex has gradually decreased and the price has dropped sharply, to only 15,000 VND/kg of fresh latex compared to 30,000-40,000 VND/kg in the same period last year.

“The entire 1.5 hectares of rubber trees can only be tapped for a few tens of thousands of dong a day. If I hire someone to do it, I will have to pay a loss of nearly 200,000 VND per day. With such a heavy loss, I have to destroy the rubber trees and replant short-term trees,” said Mr. Thanh. Like Mr. Thanh, after the heavy damage from storm No. 10 in 2013, many smallholder rubber growers in Quang Tri and Quang Binh said that this year’s rubber latex output has decreased, the latex is very thin, and especially the price is only 1/3 compared to the same period last year. Many people have decided to destroy the rubber trees to plant short-term trees, but they have to spend money on hiring stump diggers (12 million VND/ha), plowing (more than 2 million VND/ha), seeds, fertilizers, etc., while the money from selling wood is not enough to cover the cost of cleaning the garden.

In the eastern provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh, many people are also racing to cut down rubber trees, although they do not know what to plant in their place. Along the road of Phu Chanh commune (Tan Uyen, Binh Duong), piles of rubber firewood with the fresh smell of wood are piled up waiting to be sold. Going deeper inside, the sound of saws is deafening, not from sawmills or carpentry workshops, but from rubber gardens that are being cut down by people. Mr. Vo Hung Lam (Phu Chanh, Tan Uyen), who just cut down 2 hectares of rubber trees that were being harvested, said that the price of latex is so low that many farmers do not bother to tap them, so they have to cut them down.

"It is not known when the price of latex will increase again, while the cost of fertilizer and care is increasing, so the garden must be destroyed to switch to other crops, many people also cut down young rubber trees" - Mr. Lam said. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thua (Tan Uyen) - owner of a 3ha rubber garden, with a selling price of 8,000 VND/kg, the revenue from selling latex is just enough to pay for harvesting and family expenses, and the money to take care of the rubber garden must be borrowed from outside. "The price of latex is too low, it can be said to be the lowest in the past ten years, so it is inevitable that farmers cut down their rubber gardens" - Mr. Thua said.

Stop exploiting and selling rubber plantations

Although the rubber is in the latex tapping season, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga (Xuan Thanh, Thong Nhat, Dong Nai) decided not to open the tree to tap, accepting to nurture the tree because the latex price is too low. "Last year, the price of fresh latex was over 12,000 VND/liter, my 2 hectares of rubber earned 50 million VND but the cost has already eaten up nearly half. This year, the latex price is 7,000-8,000 VND/kg, while the labor cost for tapping is 350 VND/tree, not to mention the labor cost for pouring latex, investing in bowls and dishes... if the money from selling latex is not enough to pay for the labor cost, why tap?" - Ms. Nga complained.

According to Mrs. Nga, in 2007, when she saw that the price of rubber latex was quite high, her family decided to destroy 2 hectares of durian and mangosteen, which were generating an income of over 70 million VND/year, and plant rubber trees in the hope of changing their lives. But the change in their lives did not appear, and now it is the season, they do not bother to tap the trees. "If we had kept them, my family's durian and mangosteen garden would have brought in nearly 500 million VND in the past five years, and we would not have had to spend more than 20 million VND/year on fertilizer to take care of the rubber garden. In fact, since switching to rubber plantations, my family has lost more than 600 million VND" - Mrs. Nga regrets.

Mr. Bui Van Rai (Tan An commune, Hon Quan, Binh Phuoc) was even more hurt when the investment value shrank after only one year. At the end of 2010, when the price of latex increased, Mr. Rai ran around to get enough 1 billion VND to buy 1 hectare of rubber saplings, but after two seasons of tapping, he only had enough for labor and ash fertilizer. Now he has to sell it again for 500 million VND, but no one asks. "Many people are selling rubber gardens at half the price of 2-3 years ago, but no one dares to buy. Last year, my children were still working as latex tappers, but now no one is asking for work, so they go to work in companies and factories to earn a living," Mr. Rai said.

Next to Dau Giay Rubber Plantation (Dong Nai), in previous years, more than 60% of workers in Tran Hung Dao Hamlet (Xuan Thanh Commune) chose to work as latex tappers. But according to Mr. Vo The Hoang, who used to be a latex tapper, like him, hundreds of latex tappers have submitted their resignations. "If you quit tapping latex, you will be unemployed, but now you earn less than 1.5 million VND per month, sometimes only 400,000-500,000 VND per month, how can you survive, while a few years ago, you could earn 3 million VND per month at most" - Mr. Hoang lamented.

Mr. Tran Minh Tuan, a latex tapper who also just quit his job, said that because workers' salaries are calculated based on latex value, but latex prices have plummeted from 900 VND/degree three years ago to 280 VND/degree now, salaries have also shrunk. "A few years ago, it was expensive to get into the farm, waiting for months, but now anyone who applies is allowed in right away because in less than two months, hundreds of farm workers have applied to quit. Now, the ones who stay are mainly long-time workers trying to hold on to have enough seniority to receive pensions later," said Mr. Tuan.

Foam rubber is also destroyed

Along Provincial Road DT 785 running from Tan Chau town, Tan Chau district, Tay Ninh to Ka Tum border gate (border with Cambodia), what caught the eyes of passersby were piles of young rubber trees that had just been cut down by farmers, arranged along the roadside. Seeing our surprise, Mr. Pham Van Bien (Tan Hoi commune, Tan Chau district) said that due to the sharp drop in rubber latex prices, revenue was not enough to cover exploitation costs, many people in this area had cut down rubber trees to switch to growing cassava.

Pointing to a pile of rubber trees as big as an arm that had just been cut down 15 days ago, Mr. Bien said that his family had just destroyed nearly 2 hectares of three-year-old rubber trees to plant cassava. “If we keep the rubber garden, we will have to spend money on fertilizer every year while the price of rubber latex is currently low, so we have to cut them down to plant short-term crops,” Mr. Bien said.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Chau (Tan Ha commune, Tan Chau district) - who has just destroyed nearly 7 hectares of two-year-old rubber trees, said that he had invested more than 450 million VND but had to cut them down to plant cassava because he was worried that the price of latex would continue to be low, while the cost of care and fertilization was quite expensive. "We have to wait a few more years to harvest rubber latex, each year we have to spend tens of millions of VND more on fertilizer and labor, but we don't know what the price of latex will be, while cassava currently brings high profits and is a shorter-term crop," said Mr. Chau.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thuong - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tan Chau district - said that in the area, there are currently more than 160 hectares of young rubber trees that have been cut down by people, in which almost every commune has several dozen hectares of rubber trees that have been cut down by farmers to switch to growing cassava.

According to Mr. Nguyen Dac Hung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tan Bien district, there are currently 50 hectares of young rubber trees that have been cut down in the area, not to mention 360 hectares of rubber trees that are being harvested that have been cut down by farmers to switch to other crops. In addition, many farmers have "spread and pressed branches" of young rubber trees, with an area of ​​more than 124 hectares, to take advantage of growing cassava when the price of rubber latex is falling.

“We encourage farmers not to cut down the trees because it is wasteful, but many people say that if they keep the rubber plantations, the latex price will drop and they will lose money. Who will compensate? Therefore, we only analyze and recommend, but whether to keep or cut down the rubber trees is the farmer's right,” Mr. Hung said./.