With the continued high demand for rubber, smallholders in the country now earn an average of RM15,000 a month from two hectares of land.

Ali Nordin Whiduddin, the deputy director-general of Risda, the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority, said the average earning per day was RM429 from 80kg of the commodity sold at RM6.20 a kilo.

The price is RM8 a kilo in Kelantan, meaning bigger earnings for smallholders in the state, he told reporters after opening a seminar for Risda officers in Kota Baharu.

Ali Nordin said that most smallholders had two hectares, or about six acres, of land which they tended to themselves following the sharp increase in rubber prices.

He expects smallholders to earn even more by 2020 with the market price, now at RM16.46 per kilo, increasing further.

Asked about the difference between the market price and what smallholders were paid, Ali Nordin said: "It is like padi and rice. Of course, rice will cost a lot more."

Ali Nordin said that Malaysia was expected to earn more from rubber this year than the RM25 billion in 2010 when the market price was RM10 a kilo.

- Bernama