Banjar helps farmers to rejuvenate rubber plants

Martapura, South Kalimantan 8/10 (AntaranewsKalsel) - The Livestock and Plantation Agency (Disnakbun) of Banjar District, South Kalimantan, helps farmers to rejuvenate unproductive rubber plants to be more productive.

Head of the agency Dondit Bekti in Martapura on Sunday said the rejuvenation is done in three sub-districts whose rubber plantations quite a lot.

"There are three sub-districts whose unproductive rubber plantation to be rejuvenated, namely Pengaron, Mataraman, and Karang Intan," he said.

He said the rejuvenation of rubber plants requires substantial cost, so the central government through the agency helps farmers to keep their rubber plantation productive.

The assistance is given by the central government through the 2017 revised budget (APBN-P) funds in the form of seed and maintenance.

"The treatment is like planting new trees and cover crops replaced with new ones because the old soil is less nutrient in addition to avoiding bacteria and fungi," he explained.

"If calculated from the first planting to reach the age of plants worth rejuvenated about 25 years, then the selection of plant seeds should be done carefully," he said.

In detail, the assistance provided in the form of rubber seed is ready to plant with spacing according to the recommendation that is 18 meters x 2 meters x 2.5 meters with a volume of 440 stems per hectare.

NPK  fertilizer 200 kg per hectare, 2 liters fungicide per hectare, 3 liters herbicide per hectare, and knapsack sprayer equipment are expected to be checked by the farmers.