Before Thailand became one of the Asian tiger economies, agriculture had been the main
economic activity. The main crops include rice (of which Thailand is the world's leading
exporter), sugar, cassava (an edible, starchy, nutritious, tuberous root used in making
bread or cakes), maize, rubber, cotton and tobacco. Fishing is also significant, especially
for prawns, which have become one of the country's largest exports. The country's other
principal natural resources are minerals and gemstones.
However, in Phuket, where we spent most of our time, rubber is the main crop. Yes,
literally, a ‘crop’. I had never thought of rubber (or latex) as being a natural crop, but
after traveling through Phuket, the main plant you see on the side of the road and in the
fields, is the rubber tree. It is so cool – rows and rows of thousands of rubber trees. Our
knowledgeable guide explained that a hundred years ago, Malaysia was the main supplier
of rubber, but a Thai person secretly smuggled some rubber tree seeds out of the country
and brought it to Thailand. Ever since Thailand has been the world’s main exporter of
rubber.
The stem of a mature rubber tree is about 6-8
inches in diameter, the tree stands about 25-30
feet tall, and the leaves are green. You can
immediately tell if it is a rubber tree because
there is a small black cup about 2 feet from
the ground hanging on the
side of each tree. This
container is made of
either a coconut shell or,
more recently, of plastic.
Once a plantation of
rubber trees have been planted, it takes about 6 years for them to
grow and become harvestable. In the meantime, the farmers also
grow pineapple crops between all the rows of rubber trees, and
harvest these. Once the rubber trees reach a certain height and shade
outdoes the hot sun, the pineapple plants are removed and the rubber harvesting begins. A
rubber tree can then be harvested for about 25-30 years, before its rubber production is
depleted. The cycle of the pineapple-rubber tree plantation then re-starts. I found this to
be a wonderful example of how well space is used and the business of farming food is
optimized.
We drove by a rubber plantation. I asked our driver to stop
the car so I could take a closer look. I hopped out with my
camera and went straight up to the cup to check it out.
From just above the cup, there was a little bit of white
substance very slowly dripping from the tree into the cup. I
put my finger into the black container and picked some of
the rubber out. It was dry and sticky and looked exactly like
the Elmer’s paper glue we buy in white and orange bottles. My guide grabbed his pocket
knife and sliced into the bark at a downwards angle just above the cup. Within seconds a
flow of white liquid built up, ran down the bark line and dripped into the cup. It was
liquid rubber in its most raw, purist form!
He explained that it is harvested at night when it is cooler so that the rubber flows freely
and quickly. Each night, the farmers re-cut the bark on all their trees. This takes a few
hours. Then they return to the beginning and collect all the liquid rubber from the cups.
That cut of bark then dries up and the tree waits for the next cut, a day later. The
harvesters then take all of the liquid to their small farm buildings where they begin to
cure it.
A few days later, we actually made a trip to an active rubber farm and learned,
experientially, how to work the rubber. It was awesome! And it was lucky we had the
guide we did, Teeru (or as the Thais called him, Mr. T). Not only did Mr. T speak
English well, but his family owns a very large plantation where he worked for most his
youth. He could explain the whole process and answer
our questions impeccably. The farmers lived in a very
small wooden home (more like a large shed) which had
a stove, a couple
of wooden
platforms for
beds, a crib for
their baby, an
outhouse, a small
Buddhist shrine and a large poster of the King of
Thailand (these features were common in the Thai
homes and businesses). Next to their humble house
was a another building, a little larger than their
house, and made of cement, which was dedicated to the rubber process.
Between Mr. T and
the resident farmers,
they showed how
the whole process
works. The rubber
curing process
involves having a
large tub filled with
the white rubber
liquid. It looks like a giant container of milk. They then allow the rubber to begin to
harden. This looks like and feels like gooey balls of cottage cheese.
They then take the hardening substance out of the tubs
and pile it onto a mat on the hard cement floor. This is
the fun part – you get to squish it and pound it with
your bare feet!
Once you get it
pounded into a
rectangular shape,
you pick it up, and
put it through the
rubber press (this looks like an old towel drying
machine). You do this several times, each time setting
the press at a tighter, narrower setting. The product –
a very hard, compact, well shaped white rubber rectangle that looks exactly li