The father of Thai rubber and the first tree at Kantang

Thailand's first rubber tree was planted at Kantang district in Trang around 1899. The man who brought it was Phraya Rasadanupradit Mahisonphakdi, governor of Trang — and that tree is still alive.

The man who started it

His Chinese name was Khaw Sim Bee na Ranong, meaning "one of good heart" in Hokkien. Born in Ranong on 8 April 1857, he spoke nine languages.

He is remembered as the father of Thai rubber not for being the first to see a rubber tree, but for turning it into the economy of a region.

The reason was not a vision about rubber

The motivation was immediate and practical. Pepper prices had collapsed and growers were struggling, so he looked for another crop. He tried both coffee and rubber.

Rubber was the one that worked. He brought seed from Malaysia and planted it at Kantang around 1899–1901; some accounts date the first arrival in Siam to 1890. Those first trees became known as "Thesa trees".

From Trang to the whole country

After his term as governor of Trang he was promoted to commissioner of Monthon Phuket, which let him push planting more widely.

What he started spread across all 14 Southern provinces and then to other regions. Thailand is now the world's largest rubber producer, with 22.6 million rai planted and over 1.7 million growers.

The first tree at Kantang still stands as a monument. In 2015 it was 116 years old.

Why this still concerns us

Our plant is in Trang — the same province where that first tree went into the ground. We do not use latex. We use the wood from trees that have finished their tapping life.

A century ago he turned a crop with no local value into the income of the South. Today the stumps and roots that used to be burned in the field are being turned into fuel for the same reason: something that already exists, which nobody was yet using well.

Read on: rubberwood stumps and roots