I was browsing among numerous amounts of articles on a
wonderful site called Economic Botany, when I stumbled upon an article that
caught my attention. The article was called “Philippine Rubber Plantations”
written by Alden Cutshall who studied at the University of Illinois, Navy Pier,
Chicago, Illinois. Honestly, I must say
that before reading this article I did not know that rubber was from trees. Who
would have thought? Apparently, mostly all of my classmates.
The
article was about the rubber plantations in The Philippines (obviously), and it
went into depth on the major aspects that surround the plantations, for
example: the size the plantations, how
the rubber is collected, and Alden even went into detail about the laborers that
work the plantations. Even though this Article was only about three pages, it
held tons of information! Also, remember
this particular article was published in 1953!
The first
thing that caught my eye when I began to read this article was the tad bit of information
directly under the title. Within that little paragraph you find out, that because
of local laws land that was operated by any one source of private capital was
limited to 2,500 acres. That’s not a lot
of land at all for a plantation! However, when I read this I remembered that it
was written in 1953, so I began to do more research. In 2010, The Philippines had
a total of 138,710 hectares (1 hectares = 2.471 acres) of rubber plantations.
By 2016, they plan to raise that amount to 200,000 hectares, which is an annual
increase of 10,000 acres. Even though
The Philippines plan to add more land to increase their rubber productivity,
they still only account for 1.1% of the global output of rubber. Crazy to think
about, huh?
The
Article also touched base on the physical and weather conditions of the island,
and how they affect the rubber trees! The island itself is very hilly, and the
soil lacks proper fertility. So, the island is not ideal to grow rubber on,
however, they make it work. As for the temperatures, they are perfect for the
trees, and the amount of rainfall that the islands receive is adequate. Even
though, the island does face the factor of drought in the summer, the plants
still grow and are not harmed.
Now the subject of the laborers!
Without them, there would be no rubber coming from The Philippines at all. The
Labor, however, is expensive compared to other countries, but you have to stop and
remember that in the 1950’s, The Philippines were not the richest country out
there. However, some good news: According to the 2012 Wealth Report, The
Philippines is projected to be among the fastest growing economies in the
world! Hopefully, that means more rubber production for them! Even though the labor was expensive back then,
the quality of the labor was considered satisfactory. Therefore the labor cost
was not of much importance.
Now for
the part I had no idea about! How the “rubber” is collected/ made! The trees
that the rubber comes from are “tapped” in the morning, about 7 am, the latex
that is eventually turned into rubber flows faster in the mornings. Tapping the trees is basically, when the
collector makes a thin, diagonal cut to remove a sliver of bark. The
milky-white latex fluid runs out of the bark and down the cut and is collected
in a bucket. After about six hours, the fluid stops flowing. In that six-hour
period, a tree can usually fill a gallon bucket. The tree can be tapped again
with another fresh cut, usually the next day. After the rubber is collected it
is then sent to the factories and made into products used daily around the
world. This article was so fascinating to me; it taught me something about a
product I use every day! Even after I read the article I was so anxious to
research more about the plantations and where rubber comes from. I wonder what
other articles I can find?! If you want
to look up some Articles for yourself, I have provided the link! Happy Reading!
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