BUTUAN CITY – From barely breaking even, the 500-strong KM7 Farmers-Producers Cooperative (KMFPC) now earns PHP150,000 per month from its rubber production project of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rural Development Program (DA-PRDP).
The project, established in 2018 under the Integrated Rubber Production and Marketing, was allocated PHP22.2 million, released separately through materials and support equipment.
"The first materials we received were composed of 100,000 seedlings of rubber which we planted in a 50-hectare area in Barangay Tungao, Butuan City," KMFPC chair Samuel Calawigan Jr. said in an interview on Wednesday.
Calawigan said the DA-PRDP helped them establish a nursery for rubber seedlings to support their area expansion.
"We are now harvesting around 30 tons of rubber cup lumps from our rubber trees every 15 days. The price of rubber cup lumps now ranges from PHP25 to PHP30 per kilo," he said.
Calawigan said the cooperative's current earnings amount to about PHP75,000 every 15 days.
He said the cooperative is expecting additional income from its expansion areas of rubber plantation by the end of this year and early 2025.
As of this year, the cooperative's rubber production area has reached around 1,000 hectares in Barangays Tungao, Dankias, and Manila de Bugabus, he added.
"Our membership has also grown to more than 500, and we are thankful for the continuing support of the government, especially the DA-PRDP, in the development of our cooperative," Calawigan said.
Plant disease threats
Meanwhile, Calawigan also reported threats of Pestalotiopsis or the rubber leaf fall disease in their plantations.
"We were able to monitor symptoms of Pestalotiopsis in some of our rubber trees, and we reported these to concerned authorities," he said.
He said the regional DA office had already provided them with chemicals for spraying to prevent the spread of the disease. (PNA)
