**1. Introduction**

The history of rubber cultivation in Malaya started in the late 1877 when nine seedlings from a batch of about 2700 germinated seeds at Kew Botanic Gardens near London were dispatched and planted in Kuala Kangsar, Perak [1]. Since the first rubber plantation in Malaya was established in 1896, the rubber industry has grown tremendously into the present Malaysia. There were 218,900 hectares of rubber planted area in Malaya in 1910 [1] as compared to 1.066 million hectares of rubber planted area in Malaysia in 2014 [2].

Over the last 10 years, contribution of Malaysian rubber industry to Malaysia export earnings has increased significantly from RM 15.5 billion in 2003 to RM 33.7 billion in 2013 [3]. Malaysia has become the world fifth largest producer of natural rubber with the production of 0.67 million tons in 2014 [2]. Due to its importance, Malaysian rubber industry is included in Malaysia National Key

Economic Area (NKEA) [4]. Malaysia National Key Economic Area (NKEA) is an important driver of economic activities that has a potential to directly contribute to Malaysian Economic Growth measurable by Gross National Income (GNI) indicator and will assist Malaysia in achieving a high income status by 2020 [4].
