KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 (Bernama) — The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) has targeted a monthly income of RM4,000 per household by 2020 for rubber tappers.
Risda chairman and director general Datuk Wan Mohamad Zuki Mohamad said it was to encourage the young generation to venture into the industry, as well as empower the community towards creating more Risda entrepreneurs.
He said the figure would also erase negative public perception particularly that of the young generation that the rubber industry was not lucrative.
“The industry is seen to be unglamorous, pays a meagre salary, of poor technology and low returns. So we need to change that perception if we want to attract more youths to the industry,” he said in a briefing on Risda Management 2014 to the workforce at its headquarters here today.
He said Risda would gear the industry towards high income status this year by bolstering work process efficiency through online application using modern technology.
“For a start, Risda will hold a campaign in Perak next month. This campaign is also to educate those who own rubber trees that are already mature (four and a half years to 25 years old) on the technique of tapping them correctly and how to ascertain the age of the trees, when they are ready for tapping so there would not be any wastage of latex,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said Risda would empower the capacity of smallholders towards achieving 2,000 kg of latex by 2020 and a yearly rise of 10 per cent rubber productivity.
The national rubber industry contributed to RM36.4 billion of the country’s exports last year, he said.
— BERNAMA
