BEWARE of the clones, rubber farmers are being advised. Myanma
Perennial Crops Enterprise is urging farmers to stick to recommended
seeds, and to avoid untested clone varieties.
Rubber is the country’s fifth-largest foreign exchange
earner, and more and more land has been set aside for its cultivation:
446,000 acres in 2000-2001 fiscal year, 558,000 acres in 2005-2006
and 939,000 acres in 2007-2008 respectively.
Smallholders have planted the rubber seeds recommended by the
enterprise, as well as unauthorised seeds like the so-called RRIM
2000 Series Clones seeds in commercial areas, experts warn.
“RRIM 2000 Series Clones come to our country via an illegal
route. Some sales centres say they can yield more than 2000 pounds
per acre. But they have not been tested by rubber clone inspectors
in Myanmar yet at all,” said U Myo Thant, the vice president
of Myanmar Rubber Planters and Producers Association (MRPPA).
“Thanks to aid from the government and related organisations,
we have got good results, but one year’s production per
acre of our country is still only 530lb – between a third
and a half of what our neighbouring countries get,” said
U Hla Myint, an adviser to MRPPA.
“The reason for Myanmar’s lower productivity is
because private firms started using seeds that did not produce
a high yield. As their plantations aged, yields reduced further,”
said U Hla Myint.
“Even in Malaysia, which is the origin of the RRIM 2000
series clones, these seeds are only planted as small-scale clone
trials, not in commercial plantings,” added MRPPA secretary
U Khine Myint.
Based on long-term research, Myanma Perennial Crops Enterprise
has recommended BPM24, RRIC100, RRIM717, PB260 and PB235 for regions
getting heavy rain – Mon, Kayin and Rakhine states and Tanintharyi
Division – and PB260, RRIM717, PB235, RRIM623 and GT1 for
areas of medium rain – Bago, Yangon and Ayeyarwady divisions.
For drier areas, like Kachin and Shan states, they recommend RRIM600,
GT1, PR255, PR107 and RRIM623.
The leaf disease Phytophthora has ravaged large-scale plantings
in Myanmar and RRIM 2000 series clones are not proved to be resistant
in Myanmar yet, said U Hla Myint. “There are a number of
rubber seeds but we need to choose the ones that are suitable
for our soils and that can withstand wind damage and leaf diseases,”
he said.
“If the planters choose the wrong seeds for paddy and
beans, they can know the result after about a year. But we will
only know whether the rubber seeds we have chosen are right or
not after six or seven years. By then, rubber planters will have
lost the time and money they invested, with losses both for them
and our country,” said U Khine Myint.
