Indonesia: Rubber Price Plummets, Jambi People Scream

TEMPO Interactive, Jambi:Selling price of rubber sap at the farmer’s level is currently merely at Rp 8,000 per kilogram. Rubber farmers in the Jambi Province are screaming in pain. Their harvests are insufficient to meet their needs forcing them to seek additional jobs.

Dauri, 37 years, one of the rubber farmers from Batang Hari regency, Jambi, said worriedly that rubber price at farmers’ level had plummeted from Rp 15,000 to Rp 8,000 per kilogram.

“This is making us suffer increasingly. Even I, with three hectares of rubber plantations, on average can only obtain 7-10 pounds of sap per day. It’s not sufficient, because I must share it with the tappers,” Dauri said on Sunday, June 24.

The same thing was stated by Ahmad, 40, rubber farmer from Muarojambi District. He, too,must find odd jobs to meet his family’s needs. Nurbaya Zulhakim, from the Division for Equivalent Public Education Foundation of Jambi, said the authorities needed to pay more serious attention because in reality there was a huge difference between sap rubber prices at the farmers’ level and in the market.

SYAIPUL BAKHORI

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