GAP RUBBER FARMING AND A GMP LATEX COLLECTION CENTER WITH A BCG ECONOMY MODEL IN THAILAND

Abstract

The Bio-Circular and Green Economy (BCG) model has been applied in good agricultural practices (GAP) on rubber plantations and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for Latex Collection Centres (LCC). An agricultural cooperative group, Trang Province (Thailand) applied GAP and GMP to successfully implement its BCG economy for better sustainability. The results revealed that farmers applied knowledge to their bioeconomy for rubber farming to enable them to produce high-quality fresh latex resulting in an increased yield of 28.95%. The standardization of fresh latex had set the minimum dry rubber values content at 30%, the maximum volatile fatty acid at 0.07 units, and the minimum of ammonia at 0.20% allowing concentrate latex manufacturers to accept and trust in the quality of raw materials. An analysis was done of the economic situation. The study found that the investment by the LCC had an NPV greater than zero. The BCR and IRR values were greater than 1 and 20%, respectively. These indicated the worthiness of an investment. This also has the benefit of recovering rubber scraps in wastewater, which can be used to produce rubber sheets. These create added value and enhance the production of latex in a sustainable manner for rubber farmer groups.