Mark1971

Just to add my wife's opinion on tapping. 50-50 split the tappers contribute to feeding the trees, 40-60 maybe contributing but at a lesser rate. We use a Burmese tapper, she says Thai's are too unreliable and are lazy sods. That's from a Thai lol.

Thanks I have long wondered why the split with the tappers can differ.

I tried to post my Excel calculations into my previous post but it didn't work, so I will try to summarise my idea below.

My calculation is based upon the figures from the Bandung Life Blog.

The assumption is 40% of income is payed to the tappers, fertiliser & maintenance costs are payed by the plantation owner.

Calculation is based upon 50 Rai @ 300Kg annual latex yield per Rai.

Tapping frequency is assumed to be Tap 2 rest 1.

Price per Kg = 55 Bt

Gross Income = 825,000 Bt

Income minus 40% = 495,000 Bt

Fertiliser Cost = 170,000 Bt

Plantation owners return = 325,000 Bt / Year

If the tapping frequency is changed to Tap 1 rest 3. (Using Ethephon stimulation).

The number of tappers can be reduced by 62.5 %, therefore the tappers % split can be reduced, while maintaining the individual income of each of the remaining tappers.

The tappers don't work any harder they just visit each tree far less frequently & can therefore look after a lot more trees.

It is assumed that the yield will drop to 85% of that achieved using the conventional tapping system.

Price per Kg = 55 Bt

Gross Income 85% Yield = 701,250 Bt

Income minus 18% = 575,000 Bt

Fertiliser Cost = 170,000 Bt

Plantation owners return = 405,000 Bt / Year

My information comes from the Sri Lankan research information linked in my earlier posts, I was just wondering what people with practical experience think of the low frequency tapping idea.

Aditionally my wife is planning on using RRIT 226 trees on her sloping land & RRIT 251 trees on her flat land.

This is based upon the excellent Para Rubber guides issued by the Thai Rubber Institute http://www.rubberthai.com/rubberthai/

If anyone has any practical experience with either of these trees it would be appreciated.

Thanks for all the replies & sound advice.

As no one knows me, here are my personal details.

Married to Thai lady for 10+ years, 2 kids together.

We live in the UK & will continue to do so until the kids leave school in 8.5 years.

My retirement will be funded by my final salary pension plan & rental houses in the UK.

Wife has 3 younger brothers, none of whom live in the village any more.

Thai MIL is left in the village on her own, the wife wanted one of her brothers to look after her mam & run a small business in the village in the future.

Her middle brother & his wife are devout Christians, and are very simple, hardworking / honest people.

This business is to be funded & owned by my wife, her Brother & Sister in law will graft on site, acting as my wife's site foreman when she employs staff in the future.

Obviously my wife is expecting a return on her investment, so she asked me to come up with a few ideas & help her put together her business plan.

She decided on a Rubber plantation & I am putting the final details into her Business plan.

(I must admit that I am responsible for scaling up her ideas, as a 200 Rai Rubber Plantation is not the small business she initially had in mind).

My intention was not to hijack this thread to discuss my personal situation but rather to stimulate some debate about the most economically beneficially way to manage a Rubber Plantation.

I am particuarlly interested in drastically reducing the labour costs assosciated with tapping, while minimizing the drop in latex yield.

I have modified the calculations given in the excellent blog linked below, to evaluate a couple of scenarios & it seems that low frequency tapping / ethephon stimulation should give a better profit for the plantation owner. http://www.bandunglife.info/local-economy/rubber-farming/rubber-tree-economics

Hi,

I have been reading the Farming Forum for a couple of years, I haven't posted before now as I am still working as an Engineer in the UK & have no practical experience of farming.

My wife has purchased 200 Rai in Chiang Rai & we were planning to put in Rubber Trees next year, so I have been researching the subject online.

(Hopefully they trees will help to supplement my retirement to Thailand in 8 years).

The massive fluctuations in the price of Natural Rubber in Thailand over the last 3 years has made me question the wisdom of the investment.

With the low price of Natural Rubber it is very difficult to make a reasonable return, unless you are both the owner & the tapper.

The normal system seems to be that the Tapper gets 50% of the latex sales price & the plantation owner gets 50% minus fertilizer and other maintenance costs.

I think the key to making a return as a Rubber Plantation owner with a low price for Natural Rubber, may be in reducing the labour cost per Kg of latex sold.

There are low frequency tapping systems, using ethephon stimulation which are used in countries with higher labour costs.

(Tree is tapped every 6 days, ethephon is applied 10 times per year).

This should allow the Plantation owner to keep a higher % of the latex sales price, while still providing a fair wage to the tapper.

Obviously the total number of tappers required will be significantly lower.

The link below is an academic study which claims that labour cost can be reduced by 67%, with only a small drop in latex produced.

http://www.sjp.ac.lk/journal/jtfe/sympo2010/pp%2062-69.pdf

As I said at the start I have no practical experience with Rubber Trees, so please be gentle if I have got my facts wrong.