The Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPAG) and Philippine Rubber Research Institute(PRRI) conducted a training course on quality rubber production and processing technology on October 13-15, 2015 at Maria Villa Luisa Hotel, Tandag City, Surigaodel Sur. There were 30 rubber farmers coming from different communities who participated in this workshop. The Office of the Provincial Agriculture (OPAG) and Philippine Rubber Research Institute(PRRI) conducted a training course on quality rubber production and processing technology on October 13-15, 2015 at Maria Villa Luisa Hotel, Tandag City, Surigaodel Sur. There were 30 rubber farmers coming from different communities who participated in this workshop. This was the first time farmers are being taught on how to establish rubber nursery through good agricultural practices. It’s an honor for them to plant rubber with the technical assistance of OPAG Surigao del Sur and PRRI. The total land area of Surigao del Sur is 493,270 hectares which is divided into two cities,namely; Tandag and Bislig City. The land area planted with rubber is 1,155 hectares and the productive/tappable area is only 112 hectares. The unproductive area is 1,151 hectares but because of the current low price, only 54 hectares of rubber trees are being tapped nowadays. They are selling coagulum or cup lump with the present price of 20 pesos depending on the quality.
The potential area for planting is 214,032.32; about 80% of the total land area of Surigao del Sur is planted with different plant commodities. The 17 municipalities produce high value crops such as soybeans, coconut, coffee and fruit trees which is 20% of their agri-land area. Surigao del Sur today encounters low price of rubber products but farmers wants to plant more rubber because of the convincing words that our resource speaker Prof. Rogelio C. Testado, USM Professor has uttered. Some of the farmers in Surigao del Sur have already planted rubber trees and yet they still asked for technical support from the OPAG and PRRI Office. Some of them also practiced intercropping such as rubber intercropped with coconuts, fruits and coffee with planting a distance of 1x2x20. Rubbers with cacao are planted with a distance of 1x3x20 in between hills. OPAG raised their issues and concerns; such as price trends, no processing plant, asking for a village type Air Dry Sheets (ADS) in order for them to produce Air-Dried Sheet products. Also, they want more trainings, tools and technology on rubber farming. After the completion of workshop, the farmers were given a chance to talk and air out their impressions about the activity. One farmer said, “We are very much thankful for PRRI who invited our resource speaker Prof. Rogelio C. Testado and OPAG for the knowledge that we received on rubber farming. We hope that we can make it beneficial to our children.” He also added, “We need to enhance more skills in establishing rubber nurseries and accredit it to Bureau of Plant Industries (BPI). In the afternoon session, certificates of completion were given to the participants by the resource speaker. (Prepared by: Allan Boy L.Tabigue, Admin Aide IV.)
“Participants during the Training Course on Quality Rubber Production and Processing Technologies Seminar Workshop” in Tandag City, Surigao Del Sur.
Mr. Marcos M. Quico, Provincial Agriculturist of Surigao Sur.
Prof. Rogelio C. Testado (USM Professor) is the resource speaker. He explains to farmers about rubber production technology.
