Training Outline

for New Tappers

Introduction

Tapping school is a one-month training course designed to train workers to

become skilled tappers. It provides the avenue from which inexperienced farm
workers learn the basics of rubber harvesting, maintenance and other relevant
skills that will help trainees become confident to tap trees and eventually qualify
as commercial tappers.

Tapping school helps develop the necessary skills, capacities and discipline
among workers that is needed to optimize production and sustain productivity of
the crop during its economic life.

With appropriate training and through the technical information provided in this
manual, cooperative technicians/ agriculturists may adopt this training program
with relative success.

The time frame of the training may be 30 days.

E X H IB IT 1 7 : T a p p e r - t r a in e e s f a m ilia r iz in g t h e m s e lv e s w it h a c t u a l ta p p in g
p r o c e d u r e s u s in g f r e s h ly c u t r u b b e r t r u n k a s ta p p in g m e d iu m .

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 Training Outline
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The following are activities/ processes involved in the conduct of training.

Step 1 Preparation of training materials covering following topics for lecture

materials:
 General Information on Rubber
(Historical background, Agro-climatic requirement, Uses)
 Basic Information on Rubber Propagation and Management
(Nursery, Immature /Mature Area Maintenance)
 Introduction to Tapping Practices, Systems & Procedures
 Factors Influencing Yields and Present Tapping Practices and
standard (Slope / direction of cut, height, depth, bark consumption,
panel wounds, Time of tapping)
 Tapping task sizes
 Length of Cut and frequency of Tapping
 Tapping Notations
 Influence of tapping on DRC, tree dryness and girth increment
 Tapping Quality Inspections

Step 2 Lecture Proper covering topics in item Number 1. (Duration is 2- 3

days)

Step 3 Introduction to Rubber tree tapping: (Duration 7 days)

Procedure:

 Freshly cut rubber logs/posts will be installed in the training area

and each trainee shall be assigned rubber logs where he will
familiarize himself and perform actual tapping exercises.
 During the exercise, trainees will be required to follow all the
important steps and procedures required during actual tapping
operations like: slope / direction of cut, height, depth, bark
consumption, panel wounds, and speed of tapping.
 At the end of day 7, individual trainees will be evaluated by an
assigned tapping inspector to determine if they qualify for the next
level of training and testing. Those who fail to perform satisfactorily

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during the initial 7 day period shall be disqualified. Those who pass
will proceed to step 4.
Step 4 Introduction to actual Field Tapping: (Duration 7 days)

 Tappers who pass the initial evaluation (tapping on rubber logs) shall
be assigned to do actual field tapping, and adopt the procedures and
skills they learned to tap ¼ of the commercial task size, involving
125 productive tree stands. A rubber specialist and a full time
tapping inspector should be involved to provide field inputs and
technical advice.
 At the end of the period, individual performance will again be
evaluated based on standard tapping practices to further screen
substandard performers. Those who pass will proceed to step 5.

Step 5 Up scaling of Tapping coverage to ½ task size ( 250 trees ) (Duration: 7

days)

 The procedure is similar with step 4, except for the increase

in area and time allocation for rubber tapping.
 Trainees will be graded based on compliance with tapping
rules and standards as set forth in commercial tapping. Special
emphasis will be on tapping quality which include: tapping cuts,
angle of cuts, depth of tapping, panel wounding, bark
consumptions, speed of tapping and collection, crop yield and
tapper's general work behavior.
 These activities will be carried out under strict guidance and
supervision of the tapping inspector and rubber specialists.
 Trainees who passed the evaluation will proceed to step 5,
the final phase of the training.

Step 6 Tapping on Full commercial tasks size ( 500-550 trees ) (Duration:7

days)

 Trainees will be assigned full task sizes and will be required to

adopt the standard work routine of regular tappers. They will log in
to the work area together with the regular tappers and perform
work assignment of commercial tappers.

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 At the end of the period, tapping inspection will be conducted using

the standard tapping inspection tools as guide for evaluating
individual performances.
 Inspection will focus on tapping quality, speed of tapping, crop
yield, maintenance and cleanliness of tapping tools/utensils,
tappers attitude and behavior.

 Final evaluation / grading will be conducted before the end of the

7-day session.

 Tappers who pass the one (1) month course shall be considered
graduate and will be eligible for commercial tapping assignment.

Note: Tapping school is organized under the following conditions/

steps:

1. There are new areas for tapping and skilled tappers are limited.

2. Existing tappers are new and their knowledge about

commercial tapping is limited.

3. Training is normally set two (2) months prior to the opening /

tapping of rubber areas.

4. After the training, qualified tappers should immediately be

deployed for commercial assignment. This will allow for
continuity to further hone their skills in tapping. Long period of
rest after training is disadvantageous to tapping.

5. The number of tappers to be trained will depend on the area to

be covered for tapping. An additional 10% is allowed to address
for possible disqualifications as the training progresses.

6. Tapping training is done on gradual basis to acclimatize

trainees on the physical requirement of the work. The one (1)
month training period was observed to be effective and cost
efficient.

7. Training materials (logs) will be sourced out from within the

plantation and installed on accessible sites for easy monitoring.
Tapping area will also be reserved for training either within the

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plantation or nearby areas to facilitate easy supervision and

monitoring.

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