Rubber Plantation

[ahwich]

now 138 baht/Kg i have 40 rai about 3200 trees 7 years old now i am trapper 20 rai next year i get all of them .this years is the first year to trapper income about 60,000 baht anyone can talk with me if you interest my farm.

[SantiSuk]

I can't understand why around my place Thais and falangs are putting rubber into seemingly very fertile, flat and well drained soil close to roads/utilities that markets for 75,000 to 100,000 baht per rai. Surely they should be doing it on crappy ground that is in the up to 50,000 baht per rai category if they want to make a sensible return? Some of the rubber planters around here tell me that rubber needs very little irrigation - the wet season is sufficient, in which case I can't see the point of doing it on land that has irrigation (the price of the land presumably reflects the fact that irrigatability provides a lot of flexibility).

Interested in responses to those comments, as my wife and family seem hellbent on falling into that category and I'm trying to stop her doing something apparently daft. I'd like to direct them towards higher value more immediate cash crops - don't know what those are yet but the other crop that people plant like crazy around me is cassava; again I would have thought that cassava is a poorer soil crop.

[cornishcarlos]

I have only just discovered this farming forum and have to say, I'm lovin' it....

Coming from a Cornish background, growing up on a small holding and working on several farms as a lad, I miss the growing it and eating it lifestyle.

Having lived in Thailand on and off for the past 9 years, I am planning to marry my girlfriend (been with her for 4 years) this October and make a more permanent home in Surat Thani.

I'm looking to build up over the next 4-5 years about 100 Rai of mixed rubber/palm and also run a small holding just for family food.

My future mother in law already has a successful collection of plantations and I will be relying on her local knowledge and experience to source and cultivate the land.

Although I will obviously be paying for the land, I'm thinking of staying on the side lines with respect to the plantations, so as not to upset the local producers whilst also providing work for a family who will harvest.

Looking forward to reading more about small holdings on here and concentrating on experimenting on a small scale with different crops.

I know that I have actually not contributed anything to the original post but when I bought my motorbike and put it in my Gf name, her Mum did make a point of telling her to make sure that I knew her family never took anything from anyone, so there are some genuine folk out there

Keep up the great posts everyone.. And happy New year...

[WatersEdge]

Does anyone care to buy 4 rubber fields with three year old trees.

I was offered the parcels this week, 14, 23, 30 and 80 rai

yet lack the resources to think about it,

beyond mentioning it to others.

Located in Mae Sot, Tak province, near Burma border.

Plenty of Burmese available labor.

I would be happy enough to manage the property improvements,

farm between the trees as they grow from much better care

and install energy efficient irrigation for both trees and filler crops.

The initial 3 years of growth has not seen optimal care,

you might say they are neglected

but there they are...

[roundeye]

Hello,

I myself live near Ubon and have 40 Rai of Rubber trees and looking for more. the price of Latex is ever rising especially as the price and demand for oil rises. I think latex is a profitable business. We plant 100 trees per rai, prunned down to about 80 by the 7th year. The market is about 150 baht a month per tree. inital investment seems large since its a 7 year wait before production but we are starting to see the benefits. We rely only on the rainy season for water, no other atering and we seem to be doing okay the trees are very rezealant and doing well. A little labor intense but its helping out the family alot. I really cannot see the over saturization of this market with oil supplies running out and demand going up.

Being a non farmer I can only accept what you say as you are the one involved in rubber, however I am having difficulty getting my head round the above figures, may well be I am reading them wrongly.

80 x 150 x 12 x 40, or 80 trees per rai x 150 baht per month x 12 months of the year x 40 rai, this equals 5,760,000 baht per year.

Is my simple arithmetic correct or am I missing something here?

Last year the wife and I were looking at property in the Tha Mai area of Chanthaburi, land with rubber trees on was being sold for 300 000 baht per rai, so a 30 rai farm was being sold for 9 million baht, I have no idea of the age of these trees, however this sounds too good to be true.

Whats the life of a rubber tree after the initial 7 year wait?

Dude you might be missing alot. Depending on a few more variables.You cannot tap in the rain as it will screw up the latex and waste your time and your tree. you cannot cut in the cool season as the tree changes its leaves yo9u cannot cut at this time. it needs to mend and does not produce as well. try not to hurt your trees. this year brought alot of rain wich cut production and profits. It is agriculture and we are at the whim of Mamma Nature. It was a great year for rice I am told. But these figures you are putting together are not constant.