section_path: Production/Cultivation
section_name: Cultivation
paragraph_text: Cultivation
  
  Rubber latex is extracted from rubber trees. The economic life of rubber trees in plantations is around 32 years, with up to 7 years being an immature phase and about 25 years of productive phase.
  
  The soil requirement is well-drained, weathered soil consisting of laterite, lateritic types, sedimentary types, nonlateritic red or alluvial soils.
  
  The climatic conditions for optimum growth of rubber trees are:
  
  Many high-yielding clones have been developed for commercial planting. These clones yield more than 2,000 kilograms per hectare (1,800 lb/acre) of dry rubber per year, under ideal conditions.
  
  Rubber production has been linked to deforestation. Rubber therefore is one of seven commodities included in the 2023 EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), which aims to guarantee that the products European Union (EU) citizens consume do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation worldwide.