Equipped for the roughest terrain – with natural rubber from Indonesia

Tyre manufacturer Continental and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have teamed up on a project in Indonesia to create a digital traceability system for natural rubber. The gains are threefold: smallholders get a better price, Continental benefits from greater supply chain transparency, and Indonesia’s precious forests and peatlands remain intact.

Tugiman has never ridden a mountain bike, but he knows that as an extreme sport it involves racing downhill at top speed, hurtling over roots and rocks, with breakneck jumps, throwing up loose stones in all directions – and a lot of mud!

Tugiman is a farmer in the district of Kapuas Hulu in the Indonesian part of Borneo. In a way, the fact that mountain bike tyres exist at all is partly down to him. He collects the natural latex used to make rubber and sells it to a processing company. That company then supplies Continental, which in turn uses the material to make its Gravity mountain bike tyres.

Traceable natural rubber supply chain

The district of Kapuas Hulu includes Danau Sentarum National Park, a giant biosphere reserve known for its high level of species diversity, valuable rainforest and carbon-rich peatland. Yet the region is under threat. Yields per unit area from the cultivation of natural rubber, vegetable oil, coffee and pepper are low. In an effort to boost their income, many farmers extend the area of land they cultivate – at the expense of the forest.

Tugiman has not cleared any of the nearby forest to plant more rubber trees. And he can prove it. The land he farms, and that of around 5,500 other smallholders, is fully mapped in an app. The system keeps a record of the raw rubber he supplies for every purchase – and checks that the volume delivered is plausible based on the area he cultivates. Using this method, Continental and GIZ can tell that none of the natural rubber produced through the project has come from cleared areas of rainforest. It also prevents any raw material from unregistered land – illegally cleared forest, for example – finding its way into the supply chain.

Continental and GIZ began working on the traceable supply chain for natural rubber in 2018 as part of a joint initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Since then, the project has expanded considerably. Originally launched as a small-scale pilot, it has since trained over 4,500 smallholders in methods that allow them to produce high-quality natural rubber while observing clearly defined sustainability criteria.

Threefold benefit

For example, the project team showed local farmers the best angle for cutting into the bark so that they can extract as much of the raw rubber as possible. Instead of using coconut shells to collect the sap, the farmers now use bamboo canes with a much smaller opening as this helps to keep out dirt and sand. The training has paid off. As well as harvesting and selling more, they can get a better price if they supply a cleaner and drier product. 90 per cent of the farmers say they have increased their yield thanks to the project.

Continental Tires aims to cover its entire demand for natural rubber through responsible sources by 2030. For the company, the joint project with GIZ is an important step in that direction. What’s more, it is helping not only to protect the livelihoods of many smallholders but also to prevent deforestation in Indonesia. All in all, the benefits are threefold.

Last update: July 2024