Rubber tapping in Gulf resumes after 17yrs

RUBBER tapping has resumed in Gulf after 17 years, according to the farmers and settlers association.
Association president Wilson Thompson said the last tapping was done in 2003 as there were no buyers.
He said the rubber industry started in the colonial era at Kerema Town and then moved to the Burns Philp-owned Epo rubber plantation.
He said the Government started the Murua rubber research station and then earmarked 500 hectares of land for the settlement scheme.
The project was undertaken by the Department of Agriculture (DAL) and financed by the National Development Bank.
Thompson said Burns Philp left the Epo plantation and the last tapping was done in 2003.
“In 2018, Governor Chris Haiveta invited DAL and the PNG Rubber Board to visit the province and a needs assessment report was submitted including how to get the industry going again,” he said.
“The farmers and settlers association discussed the dilemma with Galley Reach Holdings Ltd and Rubber board who agreed to support with rubber tapping tools, materials, training and rubber crop data verification.”