Rubber
+
Wood
Early morning work: Slicing rubber trees to make latex flow.
Low rubber latex prices or reduced production means trees are cut down for lumber.
After logging crops are again planted, often another cash crop along with or instead of rubber depending on current prices.
Elephants are used to haul out trees felled in low mountain jungle.
Working elephants are given regular breaks to cool off and take water.
Trees are cut for transport to the mill and elephants taken home for a meal and rest.
While much rubber latex processing to sheets is done on small plantations, the rubber wood is processed in large mills.
Burmese migrant workers provide a large percentage of the labor both in the jungle and in parawood mills.
Much of the rubber wood produced here in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand is shipped to China for furniture production.
Rubber + Wood examines sustainable
rubber tree agriculture. The work is
centered in the southern province of
Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thailand.
Copyright © 2016 by Joseph Vitone
Joe Vitone
Avenue C Studio
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
+1-512-459-0394
info@joevitone.com
www.joevitone.com
Rubber
+
Wood