Peter Igbinosun, national president of Rubber Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NARPPMAN) has said that the country can generate 68,000 jobs from rubber production.
He says with the necessary support to boosting farmers’ production of the crop, Nigeria can provide jobs for its teeming youths population through the sector.
“Our association can provide 52,000 direct and 16,000 indirect employments. It will open up rubber industrialization in the states through establishment of factories and cottage industries,” he said.
“This will further open up opportunities for more employment and economic empowerment,” he said.
He noted that the rubber industry has not been given the necessary attention by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and appeal for collaborations.
“As concerned operators and contributors to the development of the nation’s economy, we wish to draw the attention of NDDC to the development of rubber and its value chain in the Niger Delta Region,” he stated.
“As one of the country’s cash crops that have over 50 by-products, its values cut across all sectors of the economy, a foreign exchange earner, a contributor to the country’s GDP and a massive employer of labour,” he added.
According to him, rubber is also an environmentally friendly crop, an internationally sought after non-perishable commodity.
He revealed that the history channel, model marvel series, rated rubber as the world’s fourth most important national resource after air, water, and petroleum.
“It is a strategic material because it cannot be replaced by synthetic rubber in most important applications,” he said.
He lamented that despite the foregoing attributes and the premium that highly industrialized nations placed on this time tested natural raw materials, our governments have by an act of omission or commission paid less emphasis to its development.
“The overt neglect of this sub-sector notwithstanding its important contributions to our economy has become worrisome,” he said.
He says 85 percent of the country’s total production comes from the Niger Delta Region and most of the factories for rubber production also located in the region.
“The presence of Agro Rubber – multinational companies – Michelin Plantations, now Rubber Estates Nigeria Limited, Pamol Ltd, Enghaut Plantation Ltd, Okomu rubber Plantation, Royal Farms and Estates Ltd, and Imoniyamen Holdings Ltd among others are all located in this region,” he said.
Explaining further he stated that most of the plantations were planted in the early sixties by the defunct eastern region and are no longer economically viable due to old age and outdated clones.
“Some of the factories are either moribund or producing far less than the production capacity due to insufficient raw materials.
“This has led to the sharp decline in rubber production in the country,” he added.
