A Comparative Study of Economic Efficiency Between Small and Medium Size Rubber Plantation in Thbong Khmom Province.

The strong fluctuation of price makes investment decision difficult, especially smallholder rubber plantation that depend solely on rubber production to support their livelihood. An investment analysis of the rubber production was needed to complete the study, so a discounted cash flow (DCF) was introduced to account for this study. The findings of the study illustrate that the investment of rubber seemingly economically feasible. However, the result from the Discounted Cash Flow Analysis showed that the time to recover the initial investment on the rubber plantation is getting longer at the current price of rubber. The payback period will be 11.9 years for small size producers. For medium size plantations, the payback period was estimated to be 12.2, 10.5 and 9.8 years in MI, MII and MIII, respectively. The further findings also suggest that small size producers have less choice in term of output produce that they want to put out in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]