Quang Nam Rubber Corporation to Expand Rubber Areas

Quang Nam Rubber Corporation to Expand Rubber Areas

Expanding rubber acreage in the central Quang Nam province, especially in the western area, is the strategy of the Quang Nam Rubber Corporation (under the Vietnam Rubber Corporation) in a bid to reduce poverty and improve the living conditions of local residents.

By the end of 2003, the company developed 1,970 hectares of new rubber plantings, mainly in Hiep Duc and Duc Phu rubber farms, and plans to grow another 600 hectares of rubber this year. Under the Government’s approved plan, the total area of rubber the company will develop by 2015 is 6,000 hectares.

This is also part of the Vietnam Rubber Corporation’s plan to develop a mountainous economy and culture, in connection with economic development along the trans-national Ho Chi Minh Road, according to the company’s director Nguyen Duy Phuc. The company has spent a total VND35.1 billion for infrastructure construction works such as roads, irrigation works and for purchasing equipment, creating both favourable transport conditions for local ethnic people and economic development in these remote areas.

This expanded acreage is seen as a motivator for the development of the latex processing industry and in the long run, rubber trees will be a source for wood processing in Quang Nam, helping to generate jobs and improve the local economy, Phuc added.

At present, Quang Nam Rubber Corporation is sponsoring two villages of Phuoc Tra Commune as part of a project to support heroic Vietnamese mothers. Last year, the company provided jobs for 702 local households, of which 162 are ethnic minority. Each household is responsible for caring for a garden of rubber trees with a monthly payment of VND385,200.

Expanding rubber crop areas in Quang Nam is coherent with the province’s strategy to develop into an industrial province by 2015 under Resolution 08/TU-QN of the provincial Standing Party Committee, Phuc said.

• Khoa Anh-Hong Le