By Muhamad Faqhurazize Mohd Isa
Oil palm, as is well known, is the most important crop in the state of Johor, followed by rubber.
People in the state of Johor prefer to grow oil palm because the price of rubber fluctuates.
However, working on rubber plantations remains one of the primary occupations in Johor.
As you are certainly aware, the monsoon season, which began at the beginning of this month, is currently causing havoc in our country.
The monsoon season is affecting a number of our country’s states, particularly Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Selangor.
As a result of this natural disaster, many plantation tasks were hampered and could not be completed as usual.
Those who work as rubber tappers must be affected in some way because they are not always able to tap rubber on a rainy day.
Some rubber tappers take extra precautions by avoiding the monsoon season. Nonetheless, some of them believe that rubber tapping is the only way to survive.
Mohd Isa Ehsan, 63, works as a rubber tapper and has his own plant. He lives in the village of Gelang Chinchin.
The majority of the villagers’ work consists of rubber tapping. There are many wholesale rubber businesses in operation.
Wholesale rubber businesses are typically open six days a week. He said that rubber tapping is his family’s sole source of income.
While his other two children have married, he continues to help his two remaining children with their studies. He is still able to provide for his family by working in this capacity.
“I normally go to the rubber plantation in the early morning and stay until midday. However, if it is raining, I will not go to the plant because the rubber cannot be tapped under damp and rainy weather,” he said.
He also mentioned that, depending on the weather, he would tap rubber three times per week and the rubber will be sold on the weekend. If it’s monsoon season, like this month, he’ll only tap rubber once a week.
Even though the results were just at minimal, he never lost spirit in his daily efforts to care for his family.
“If I see that it’s going to rain, I’ll apply salt that freezes rubber. The salt acts chemically to aid in the solidification of the rubber. The price is fairly reasonable, and it can be obtained from any hardware store. As a result, the rubber can tolerate being diluted by rainwater. If the rubber is exposed to rainwater and does not have time to freeze, the attempt to tap it from that morning is pointless,” he said.
When the rubber is delivered to the rubber wholesale store, it is placed in a basket and weighed using a scale provided. The weight will then be recorded by the on-duty staff.
Following that, the assessed weight is used to determine how much money will be received.
However, the price of rubber fluctuates from time to time based on the government’s set price.
“Even though the amount of rubber I was able to produce during this wet season was not huge, I am grateful to still have a stable source of income. I’m still happy with it, and that’s all that matters,” Mohd Isa said.
Zullsyahrein Rasib, 41, is a licenced rubber wholesaler in Kampung Gelang Chinchin, where he has been doing business with villagers for many years.
He will collect the rubber that the villagers have sold to him and sell it to the rubber processing factory.
He started this company when he was still in his 30s, more than ten years ago. His company increased over time, and he was able to buy his own lorry.
The lorry will arrive early in the morning to pick up produce from the villagers who do not have vehicles to deliver to their shops.
He simply charges a modest fee for his services, which is highly useful to the villagers who wish to sell to him.
“Because of the monsoon season, which has affected many areas, including our hamlet, the rubber received from the people has decreased significantly since the beginning of this month. My daily goals are not always met, which has a huge negative impact on my business,” he said.
However, he doesn’t lose hope and is sure that these kinds of situations don’t happen often. This, he believes, is one of the challenges of running a business.
Natural disasters have had a negative impact on people, particularly in the agricultural sector.
Despite this, some farmers are still able to go about their daily activities in order to support their families.
• This article was written by a student from the Strategic Communication Programme at the Faculty of Language and Communication, UNIMAS.
