Indonesia plans to invest Rupiah 5 trillion ($528 million) to revitalize state-run natural rubber plantations, thereby raising productivity, local news reports said Wednesday.
Citing the Agriculture Ministry's perennial crop director, Rismansyah Danasaputra, the plan is to boost productivity by 44.5% to 1,300 kg/year for every hectare by 2015.
The plan will cover about 350,000 hectares of rubber plantations.
Indonesia is the second largest producer of natural rubber after Thailand.
The country is expected to boost its rubber production by 8.2% to 3.26 million mt in 2012, according to a forecast from the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries on July 1.
ANRPC member countries account for 92% of world rubber production. They are Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, China, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
