Malaysia rolls out pivotal facilities to boost rubber output

KUALALUMPUR (Commodity Online) : In a bid to promote rubber cultivation in Malaysia, the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) has established two pivotal facilities.
MRB Similajau Station and Malaysian Rubber Budwood Centre (MRBC), are touted the first of their kind. The station’s functioning is to facilitate technology transfer of new clones and agronomic practices, through various supply systems and training measures while MRBC shall produce 3.24 million rubber budwoods a year.
Similajau Station, spread across 1,180ha and the MRBC covering 45 ha are widely expected to boost rubber cultivation in Sabah and Sarawak; two other provinces in Malaysia where the government intends to plant high-yielding rubber trees in 300,000 ha and 500,000 ha respectively by 2020.
The facilities
MRB Similajau station has in its fold, a rubber seed production area, rubber budwood nursery, polybag nursery, special management zone, commercial plantation, germplasm research facility along with offices and residences. The station would be instrumental in supplying high-quality planting materials to government as well as private agencies.
Eco tourism development is also in the offing.
MRBC shall give forth high-yielding varieties of rubber-- RRIM 3001, RRIM 928, RRIM 929 and PB 350—as well as timber clones such as RRIM 2023 and RRIM 2025.
As a part of the initiative, government expects rubber output in Malaysia to jump to 2,000 kg per hectare per year from the current figure of 1,470 kg per ha per year.

(Source: http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Malaysia-rolls-out-pivotal-facilities-to-boost-rubber-output-36054-3-1.html)