EDO TO TRAIN YOUTH ON RUBBER CULTIVATION

Abdul Oroh, the state commissioner of
agriculture and natural resources, gave the hint in
an exclusive interview in Benin City.
Oroh, who notes that the private sector has
enormous role to play to ensure that the state
maintained its number one position – as the
highest producer of rubber in the country,
disclosed that investors had indicated interest to
invest between N1 billion to N1.5 billion in
replanting at the Urhonigbe Rubber Plantation.
According to him, almost 99 percent of all those
tapping rubber in Urhonigbe rubber estate now
are not from the state. Some are from the
neighbouring Delta State and other states such as
Cross River. So, this is the new area we have to
develop new skills to train some people to be able
to develop the skill in rubber production.
“We are trying to see if we can open up 15,000
new hectares per annual at least for the next 10
years, and once this is done I think it will secure
and also promote processing and downstream
investment to support the existing estates
through provision or granting of more land. And
then promote research, which is already being
done at Rubber Research Institute at Iyanomoh,
and to support nurseries production of modern
seedlings of high yielding clones.
“Clearly, the benefit will be enormous if we are
able to follow that. It will provide employment,
provide industrial raw materials, increase
government’s revenue, improve the nation’s
trade balance and it will also encourage
introduction of high yielding clones that are not at
present locally available.