Preparation before going to work

Because of the early start of the work, the rubber farmers went to bed not long after their evening meal. When it was time to get up, and get ready for work, individual rubber farmers each had their own ways to begin their day. MA (interviewed, 2/08/05) said she always took a few tablespoons of rice mixed with sugar and water, and a little bit of salt before going to the field. She claimed that the recipe kept her healthy. PMR (interviewed, 18/07/05) preferred to get ready for work by jogging a few rounds around her house, and drinking a cup of coffee. She said the jogging and the coffee helped with getting rid of sleepiness. After that the rubber farmers checked and prepared equipment needed to take with them for work.

The equipment includes 1) a tapping knife: rubber farmers normally bring more than one tapping knife with them to ensure that the knife used is always sharp. Using a blunt knife could damage the tapping surface. 2) A headlamp: the headlamp is required as there is no natural light when rubber farmers are tapping trees. 3) Small bucket: a bucket is needed when rubber farmers collect rubber latex from each tree. 4). A scrubber which is used to wipe rubber latex from the latex cup. 5) 20-litre container(s): when the small bucket is full, rubber latex is transferred to a 20-litre

container. 6) A form of transport, in which motorbike is the most common, is required for commuting and transferring rubber product. Rubber latex is transported to sell at a rubber latex buying station and rubber sheets are taken to dry at a drying shed.

Figure 4-1 A tapping knife with safety cap

Figure 4-2 A tapping knife with safety cap removed

Transport (motorbike)

A small bucket

Lhon: a bigger rubber container

Figure 4-3 transport, small bucket, and container

4.2.4.2 Tapping

After the early preparation, the rubber farmers travelled to their fields. The survey revealed that 83 % of the rubber farmers travelled to their fields by motorbike, while the remainder reported walking (8.4%), using a bicycle (1.2%), or travelling by utility truck (1.2%).

Following their arrival at the field, the rubber farmers walk along the rows of rubber trees, tapping individual rubber trees one after another until reaching the last trees in the field. While tapping, the rubber farmers adjusted the small iron gutter, stuck through the bark of each tree to make a track for the latex to drip into the latex cup.

08.00 a.m. 04.00a.m.

Figure 4-6 checking the tapping site and adjusting the gutter

Figure 4-7 tapping the last rubber tree of 500 trees

When observing, tapping seemed simple, however, when attempted, it was not as simple as it seemed. Tapping requires a long time of practice. TYM (interviewed, 16/08/05), a rubber farmer for 15 years, explained that an experienced rubber farmer carefully strokes the tapping knife with a 30-35 degree diagonal on the tree’s bark, and skilfully estimates how deep the knife should be cut into the tree in order to reach the latex vessel. The vessel is the layer between the soft bark and the cambium of the tree. To yield the maximum amount of rubber latex, rubber farmers need to stroke the knife on the first outer layer, called hard bark, through the soft bark, and cut the latex vessel as close as possible to the cambium (it is highly recommended to leave 0.5 millimetre between the vessel and the cambium) but not to damage the tree by cutting deeply through the cambium layer (Rubber Research Centre, 2004).

Hard bark Soft bark

Latex vessels

Figure 4-9 Latex Vessels (Source: a picture of latex vessels of rubber trees displayed at an agricultural fair at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand in 2005 [No reference])

One to six years before cutting the trees down or when the other tapping sites along the trunk of the trees are no longer worth tapping, rubber farmers extend the length of the handle of a tapping knife using a long stick to enable them to reach the highest point of the trunk of rubber trees (Rubber Research Centre, 2004). The procedure is called Yang Choy (PTP, interviewed 11/08/05).

Rubber farmers interviewed stated that they learned how to farm and tap rubber trees from family members such as parents, older siblings, or their spouse. Children constantly go to the rubber field with parents while parents are working. When the children are young, they play in the field-whereas older and more mature children might help their parents in fertilizing the trees, tapping the trees and/or collecting rubber latex. In that way children gradually pick up how to farm and tap the trees and it is how the knowledge and skill of rubber farming are passed from one generation to another within a family. An informant said that she learned how to tap the trees from her father soon after she finished primary school. When her tapping skill was approved she was given the responsibility of tapping rubber trees in their family rubber field. Another informant told me that when she was a young girl, whenever she saw a tapping knife she used it to tap any trees around her house. It was just for play in those days, but later she began to tap the real rubber trees in a rubber field, earning money to cover her college expenses.