Rubber processing

We had a fairly short drive to our next home stay at Evergreen Estate bungalow where George and Anjou took very good care of us. He also arranged excellent accommodation for Hari too. Often drivers have to sleep in their cars which we felt very uncomfortable about. We went for a walk early in the cool of the morning and watched the liquid rubber being collected from the tin cups on each tree . This is then taken to the factory for processing. George took us to see this factory where the rubber sap was being processed. A lot was being mixed with ammonia and put into big drums as it will stay liquid for up to a year. He told us that the price of rubber is very low at the moment and they only make 1 rupee per 1kg dry weight of rubber. (approx 1p in English money ) Some was mixed with formic acid and then when set , it was put through successions of rollers to smooth it out. Here you can see the strips of rubber hanging up to dry. In other places the rubber is smoked and hung to dry in small sheets