Kompong Cham Rubber Plantation

Cambodia has made the renascence of its rubber producing agricultural sector one of its major development policies. Although Cambodia is one of the smallest rubber-producing countries that industry was very sizable before the Pol Pot era. In order to broaden its economic base, which up to now mainly consists of the garment industry and tourism, the Cambodian government is encouraging the private sector to invest in this field. Natural rubber is a growth market due to its manifold applications in goods ranging from latex gloves to automobile tires. World markets have rebound in the past few years and market research has found increasing demand for natural rubber for the next decade.

Cambodia's total area of mature, rubber-producing trees comprises about 80,000 ha. It is estimated that the total available area for rubber tree cultivation covers about 350,000 ha with appropriate soil properties suitable for the planting of rubber tree seedlings. Currently, the majority with about 70 % of rubber plantations is still state-run. That share is soon to decrease with the privatization of the largest state rubber plantation with about 13,000 ha. Private plantations are mostly small-holdings at the present time. However, productivity in the latter is usually much higher due to close attention to daily operations by private owners.

IAMD Corp. together with is parent company KWE Holding GMbH of Germany has formed a partnership with a Cambodian investor and acquired a small plantation with trees about 8 years old. Rubber trees normally reach their highest productivity at 15 and older. Nevertheless, the use of modern, non-harmful stimulants puts our trees almost on a par with older trees in terms of productivity. Additionally, these modern compounds prevent dry bark and basting. For more details visit this website: www.thevitex.com.

Normal production is about 1500-1800 kg/ha of latex per year. It is our objective to increase this to 2,200 kg/ha per year with careful attention to the health of the trees using bio-fertilizers like buffalo dung and non-toxic, bio-degradable sprays against fungus.