• Cambodia rubber smallholdings conference
• Opening ceremony
• Panel 1
• Panel 2
• Panel 3
• Panel 4
• Closing ceremony
• Back to the Evaluation website

Agence Française de Développement

Version française

CURRENT CHALLENGES IN RESEARCH FOR SMALLHOLDER RUBBER PLANTATIONS

Under the chairmanship of Jocelyne Delarue, from the AFD’s Research Department, a panel made up of representatives of national and international research centers presented the principal results of research on improving the performance of smallholder plantations, the main research underway, and subjects that it seems important to address.

	Dr. Picheat Prommoon – Rubber Research Institute, Thailand In Thailand, 95% of planters are smallholder farmers who own an average of 2 to 2.5 ha of rubber plantations each on which they obtain an average yield of 1.7 kg/ha/year. What is more, most of them process the latex into smoked sheets, which are sold directly through a rubber auction system. In this context, research over the past 5 years has focused mainly on subjects relating to (i) developing rubber plantation in new zones, (ii) increasing planters’ incomes (lowering production costs and increasing yields), and (iii) improving processing and sales. Presentation ppt  ►Speech (video) ► Interview (video)
	Dr. Yin Son – Rubber Research Institute, Cambodia In Cambodia, the smallholder rubber plantation research program is a component of the Agricultural Productivity Improvement Project (APIP) financed by the World Bank. It is coordinated around the following lines: (i) identifying favorable geographic areas and corresponding clones, (ii) producing technical data in order to confirm the potential of smallholder rubber plantation, and (iii) improving yields. The primary results presented dealt with identifying the most suitable clones for the Cambodian context and plot fertilization recommendations.  Presentation ppt  ► Speech (video) ► Interview (video)
	Dr. Régis Lacote – CIRAD The CIRAD has now identified two particularly relevant questions for the development of smallholder rubber plantations: What innovations could improve the productivity of labor and land? Under what conditions could planters adopt these new techniques? To answer these questions, the CIRAD is developing an approach based on (i) analysis of production systems and their technical and economic performances, (ii) testing in farming areas and analyzing technical, economic and social impacts, and (iii) analysis of innovation dissemination processes.  Presentation ppt ► Speech (video) ► Interview (video)
	Dr. Phan Tanh Dung – Rubber Research Institute, Vietnam In Vietnam, where rubber is produced in zones that have very different agro-climactic characteristics by both industrial plantations and smallholder planters, the RRIV has done extensive research on clones and designing technical plantation itineraries suited to each production zone. In addition, it has worked on bettering exploitation techniques to improve yields, the fight against diseases, and processing.  Presentation ppt  ►Speech (video)
Dr. Picheat Prommoon – Rubber Research Institute, Thailand Speech  return
Interview return
Dr. Yin Son – Rubber Research Institute, Cambodia Speech  return
Interview return
Dr. Régis Lacote – CIRAD Speech return
Interview return
Dr. Phan Tanh Dung – Rubber Research Institute, Vietnam Speech  return