My rubber farm is not a new project. I did not clear the land, plant the first trees and wait years for them to mature.
I bought the property when the rubber was already there.
The whole land is about 15 acres, but at the moment I only tap roughly four acres. The rest is still part of the farm, just not actively tapped.
The land is hilly, which makes the work quite different from what people may imagine when they think of a rubber plantation.
There are no wide machine-cut terraces here.
When the rubber was planted years ago, the workers made the terraces mostly by hand using hoes. The terraces are narrow and follow the slope of the hill. Some sections are easy to walk. Others make you watch every step, especially when the ground is wet.
The rubber trees are now about 13 years old.
They are mature trees and what we usually call “rubber kahwin” here, meaning improved planting material from selected clones. The seedlings were bought in Tuaran.
I do not know the exact clone number.
That is something I should probably have asked earlier, but what I do remember is how productive some of these trees used to be.
There were trees that produced a surprising amount of latex.
At their best, some individual trees could give close to one litre of latex.
That is a lot from one tree.
When you tap a tree and come back later to see the cup filling with fresh latex, it gives a very different kind of satisfaction. You know exactly where the result came from. No guessing.
These days, however, the amount is not the same.
This Farm Is More Than Rubber
Rubber is only part of what is growing here.
There are cempedak trees, langsat and D24 durian as well.
There is also a wooden hut on the farm, about 30 feet by 30 feet. The floor is raised roughly 12 feet above the ground.
I like the hut because after walking around the hillside for a few hours, there is somewhere to sit, rest and look at the farm.
This is also where I keep some of my stingless bees.
I have Heterotrigona itama, Tetragonula thoracica and Lepidotrigona terminata around the farm.
Some colonies I obtained from logs, and some I managed or trapped myself.
So when I go to the farm, I am not only thinking about rubber.
Sometimes I check the bees.
Sometimes I look at the fruit trees.
Sometimes I just sit at the hut for a while before deciding what to do next.
That is why I do not really see this place as a rubber farm only. It has slowly become my own mixed smallholding.
I Tap Rubber When I Have Time
My main job is teaching.
That means rubber tapping has to fit around school and everything else that comes with my normal work.
Most of the time, I tap during weekends.
Sometimes I go in the late afternoon after work if the weather is good and I still have the energy.
Rain is the biggest problem.
If it rains, that is usually the end of the plan.
Rubber tapping needs a suitable window of dry weather, so even if I am free, the weather still decides whether I can work.
There are days when I come home from school and feel tired, but if the weather looks good, I still feel like going to the farm.
Once I start walking from tree to tree, the tiredness feels different.
It becomes physical tiredness instead of work tiredness.
I actually prefer that.
The Latex Is Getting Less
The main issue now is that the latex production has dropped.
The trees are still mature and can still be tapped, but some no longer give what they used to.
That is the part I want to understand better.
Maybe the trees need fertiliser.
Maybe soil nutrients have dropped over the years.
Maybe tapping history, weather or the condition of individual trees also plays a role.
At this point, I do not want to pretend I know exactly what the cause is.
I only know that the difference is obvious enough for me to notice.
The farm is on a slope, so I also think about nutrient loss during heavy rain. Water moves downhill quickly here. It is possible that some parts of the land are losing more nutrients than others.
The rubber trees have been producing for years.
If I keep taking from the trees but never put enough back into the soil, then it is reasonable to expect production to fall at some point.
My next plan is simple.
I want to buy fertiliser suitable for mature rubber trees and apply it properly.
Then I will watch the response.
I want to see whether the amount of latex improves, whether the leaves look better and whether there is any clear difference after a few months.
If there is a change, I will write about it.
If there is no change, I will write about that too.
That is more useful than pretending every farm experiment works.
Rubber Prices Are Better Now
One reason I feel more motivated to tap again is the current rubber price.
In my area, Grade One rubber sheet is around RM5.70 per kilogram, while Grade One rubber lump is around RM5.43 per kilogram.
For us, that is a good price.
It is among the better prices we have seen in recent years.
When rubber prices are low, it is easy to lose interest, especially when the farm is hilly and tapping takes time and energy.
When the price improves, suddenly the same trees feel worth visiting again.
I am not expecting rubber tapping to replace my salary.
That is not the idea.
But if the trees are already there, mature and producing, it makes sense to tap them whenever I have time.
Even a few hours of work can give some return.
It Is Also My Exercise
There is another reason I keep doing it.
Rubber tapping is good exercise.
My farm is not flat.
To tap properly, I have to walk uphill, move along narrow terraces, bend, stretch and carry equipment.
After a while, you feel it in your legs.
Some people go to the gym.
I go to the rubber farm.
The difference is that at the end of my exercise, I may also have latex to sell.
That is not a bad arrangement.
Of course, there are days when I ask myself why I am climbing another hill after spending the whole day at work.
But when I reach the farm and start moving, I usually feel better.
The place is quiet.
There is no traffic and no classroom noise.
Sometimes I only hear insects, birds and the sound of leaves moving.
That is enough.
Another Kelulut Project Is Coming
I also plan to move one of my Tetragonula thoracica logs from another farm to this rubber smallholding.
I want more of my kelulut colonies concentrated here because I visit this farm often enough to monitor them.
It also makes sense because there are fruit trees and plenty of vegetation around the area.
Moving a colony always comes with some risk, so I will probably document that separately.
That will be another Farm Life story.
Tiring, but I Still Enjoy It
Rubber tapping is tiring.
There is no point pretending otherwise.
On hilly land, even moving from tree to tree takes effort.
Sometimes the weather ruins the day.
Sometimes the latex is less than expected.
Sometimes you finish tapping and wonder whether the amount collected was worth all the walking.
But I still enjoy it.
I like the physical work.
I like seeing the trees.
I like checking the bees.
I like having a place where I can do something completely different from my normal job.
And I like the feeling at the end of the day when I know I have actually worked with my hands.
For me, the farm is not only about making money.
It is also somewhere I can slow down.
I get tired there, but it is a good kind of tired.
My next step now is to fertilise the rubber trees and see whether they respond.
I am especially curious about one thing.
Can these 13-year-old trees produce like they used to?
I do not know yet.
That is what I want to find out.
