Rubber farmers vow to exploit price rise

Smallholder rubber farmers are elated at the rising prices of the produce in the international market. Our correspondent reports that recently, rubber became the most sought-after product in the international market. How UBA official was killed, buried at his Yobe residence by ‘trusted friend’ APC founded on lies, blackmail, can’t go beyond 2023 – Lamido […]

Smallholder rubber farmers are elated at the rising prices of the produce in the international market.

Our correspondent reports that recently, rubber became the most sought-after product in the international market.

• How UBA official was killed, buried at his Yobe residence by ‘trusted friend’
  APC founded on lies, blackmail, can’t go beyond 2023 – Lamido

The farmers are optimistic about tapping from the emerging opportunities despite not being able to secure funding to boost their activities.

They attributed this to bottlenecks and difficult conditions from the lending commercial banks,

One of the farmers, Saviour Iwot, is originally from Akwa Ibom State, but like hundreds of other kinsmen, he and his family have become more of Cross River indigenes, having settled in Odukpani Local Government Area for several decades.

His parents were into rubber farming when he was a child. Although he is now a deacon in his local church, he would not stop rubber farming.

Now in his 50s, Iwot said he had been into rubber business for over 40 years and now has his own plantation on 47.6 hectares of land.

He also said that although it had not been rosy, rubber cultivation had sustained his family for many years.

Iwot is one of the many farmers in the state that have been spurred by what was published by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC), that prices of rubber and allied products would rise astronomically soon. So he is not going to allow difficult demands and unfriendly percentages placed by banks to deter him from taking advantage of the imminent high demands around the world.

Recently, the ANRPC estimated that the world production of natural rubber in 2021 would grow at 5.8 per cent year-to-year to 13.812m tones, while world demand was estimated at 6.7 per cent growth.

Experts have projected that within the later part of the year, a tonne of rubber would go for $1700 US. And due to the COVID-19 pandemic that hit hard on parts of Asia, which produces more than 80 per cent of rubber, attention is being turned to Africa and Nigeria in particular, which ranks number four in the global rubber production index.

Few of the farmers spoken to in Cross Rivers State, which has vast rubber plantations, said their spirit had been lifted, even though policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on rubber had frustrated them.  As a result, they have been experiencing lots of drawback.  These, they said, had impacted against their estates.

“I have had a good patronage from off-takers who buy off my rubber lumps for international markets.

“As we speak, I have people who have booked to export rubber to China due to rising prices.  I heard that very soon there would be high demands for the product, which was neglected by the Nigerian government.

“I will work hard to reap from the imminent price increase. I can say that I am not doing badly, but we need interventions in the areas of funds and farm inputs from the authorities,” Iwot said.

He also spoke on the need for farmers to adapt to modern methodologies to boost the production of rubber in order to meet international demands.

He also said that if banks’ percentages were friendly, it would have been better for them.

Another farmer, Onun Samson Olumba Edu, who is in his 60s and hails from Biakpan, where there is already a sophisticated and multimillion dollar gigantic rubber processing plant, installed last year by the Royal International Farm Limited, a key player in the rubber industry, said he had developed 20 hectares of rubber plantation in his last tenth year in the business.

“I cannot say I am doing poorly. I established my farm 10 years ago.  I have even begun to tap the latex from my young trees.  My luck is that most of my trees are budded stumps, the genetically modified ones.  They grow faster, healthier, and their yields are richer than the conventional natural rubber trees.  I bought them from the defunct Pamol Estate. I am still looking to buy more of them. Their benefits are much,” he said.

Edu also decried the attitude of lending banks, saying they frustrate their efforts and dreams.

He said he had been to local banks to source for funds, but they would give difficult conditions and demand collaterals he could not individually provide.

“We need funds to extend and nourish our trees, but the banks are not helping us. They don’t like to support rubber business.  Like other farmers in my community, I will like investors to partner with us,” Edu said.

As a result of poor price of the crop before now, as well as the position taken by local banks and the CBN on rubber, another farmer, Elder Edet Out said he almost closed down his 60-hectare farm.

“Since we were unable to fix the prices of rubber because of how things were, I frequently thought of closing down or selling off my plantation.  But off-takers now buy from us at good prices.

“We want to appeal to the CBN to assist us access credit facilities.  We want the federal government to intervene with fertiliser, herbicides and other chemicals to enable us maintain our farms,” he said.

Another key player in the industry, Usen Umoh, who frequently attended rubber summits in Singapore and Malaysia, disclosed that the global outlook for natural rubber was very inviting, adding that it is becoming attractive to non-traditional farmers.

“Let me make a passionate appeal to the authorities in Nigeria not to neglect rubber as it can substitute oil and bolster national revenue,” he said.

The national chairman of the Natural Rubber Producers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (NARPPMAN), Mr Peter Igbinosun, also said the situation held lots of promises.  He called on the authorities to extend support to farmers in Nigeria to be able to key into the goldmine.

He decried the negligence of the subsector by the federal government, which he said was impacting negatively on their 10,102 registered members.

Igbinosun said they had written a series of letters to the governor of the CBN and held a zoom meeting with some of its officials for the association to access credit facilities, without luck.

He alleged that certain forces had blocked them from meeting with the governor of the CBN.

But the Director of Communications at the CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, denied the allegation that rubber farmers were blocked from accessing credits.

“I disagree.  Who told them that rubber is not given priority by the CBN? I am not aware of what they are saying. We want them to come up with facts that they are blocked from accessing funds or holding meetings with the governor,” he said.

But Igbinosun insisted, “Our association has applied for funds to resuscitate the dying natural rubber subsector, but we are continually told that rubber is not the priority of the federal government because it has a long gestation period. This is painful and tiresome.”

According to him, rubber is used to manufacture over 40,000 items that are critical to human existence. This, he said, made the farmers critical stakeholders.

He appealed that they be accorded the needed attention as other farmers, adding that they provide employment directly and indirectly to over 300,000 persons in the country.