PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry will propose to the cabinet plans to replant 40 hectares of rubber trees per year to meet the current strong demand.
Its Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said his ministry would also propose 13,000 hectares of new plantation a year to increase rubber production level.
"We are trying to increase the production of rubber by replanting," he told reporters after the exchange of agreements between the Malaysian Rubber Board and Felda Rubber Industries Sdn Bhd and MARDEC Bhd, here Thursday.
"We will propose the plans to the cabinet as soon as possible and hopefully get concrete decision before end of next month," said Dompok.
Malaysia currently has 1.2 million hectares of rubber land, with 80 per cent of the rubber land in production.
Dompok said the country currently produced less than one million tonnes a year.
He hopes to double the production of rubber to two million tonnes by 2020.
Other matters to be discussed with the cabinet would include organising rubber smallholders towards better management and good agriculture practice as most of the rubber land are in the hands of independent smallholders, he said.
This would help improve rubber output as well as tapping activities to increase the amount of latex produce.
Earlier in his keynote address, Dompok said Felda Rubber Industries Sdn Bhd (FRISB) and MARDEC Bhd have been selected as recipients of the technology transfer and commercialisation of two advanced rubber products developed by the MRB, namely Ekoprena and Pureprena.
He said the commercialisation process will enable both FRISB and MARDEC to produce Ekoprena and Pureprena with an initial capacity of 12,000 tonnes per year and up to a target capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year by 2020.
Dompok said the projected GNI impact of this project was RM1.3 billion by 2020 with an estimated 1,000 jobs to be created.
Ekoprena is a form of epoxidised natural rubber obtained by epoxidation of natural rubber latex, he said, adding that it is an established class of specialty rubber and regarded as a green material for the rubber product manufacturing industry particularly tyre manufacturing as it is produced from a renewable natural source.
Pureprena is a highly purified natural rubber and an eco-efficient form of deproteinised natural rubber with distinguised raw rubber properties for dynamic and engineering applications.
(Source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=566168)
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