Margibi — The Government's regulatory arm for the rubber sector here and stakeholders in the sector are protesting against the shipment of unprocessed rubber from Liberia, which they say is also shipping jobs out of the country.
They are calling on President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to reinforce the ban on unprocessed rubber leaving Liberia.
The leaders of the Rubber Planters Association of Liberia (RPAL) and the Rubber Development Fund Incorporated of Liberia (RDFI) made the call recently in Weala, Margibi County, to congratulate Indian businessman Upjit Singh Sachdeva, aka Mr. Jetty, who is also a rubber planter and processor, for restoring hope to Salala Rubber Corporation by purchasing the company.
The team that met Mr. Jeety included the Vice Chair of the Board of the RDFI, Mr. John S. Howard.
The President of the Rubber Planters Association of Liberia, Wilhelmina G. Mulbah Siaway, stated: "We're asking the President to reinforce that the ban should be considered by the government and stop the shipment of unprocessed rubber."
She contends that shipping unprocessed rubber poses many risks to the economy and undermines the rubber industry, especially farmers.
"If you do allow the rubber to be shipped away from the country and not be processed, you are shipping jobs, and you are also creating so many other factors in the industry that bring about high risks," Madam Siaway laments.
She said that as a serious-minded country, Liberia should emulate Cote D'Ivoire, which has passed into law the ban on unprocessed rubber.
According to her, this will allow the country to process its own rubber and go through manufacturing instead of exporting unprocessed rubber and jobs.
The RPAL President reiterates a need to maintain the ban and to monitor its effectiveness because it is going off hand.
The moratorium was earlier passed to ban the shipment of unprocessed rubber, and President Boakai amended the moratorium for two months as a grace period to allow those with unprocessed rubber already at the port to be shipped.
Making his input, the former Deputy Speaker of Liberia Tokpah John Mulbah, now Chairman of the Rubber Development Fund Incorporated of Liberia, said the Government should be reminded that the moratorium was lifted for sixty days, which has expired. Hence, the authorities need to monitor the shipment of unprocessed rubber.
Mr. Mulbah disclosed that he has just returned from Ivory Coast, which has ensured by law that no rubber leaves that country unprocessed.
Besides, he explains that they discussed whether farmers in Liberia should set fixed prices like their counterparts in Ivory Coast.
According to him, Jetty, Firestone, and other planters are members of the RPAL, which regulates the rubber sector.
He says the institution was enacted by the 54th Legislature in 2017 to regulate the rubber sector, raise funds, stabilize prices, monitor its activities, and report to the Minister of Agriculture.
For this reason, he continues to say that the Ministers of Agriculture, finance, rubber processors, and bigger farmers in Liberia are a part of the RDFI.
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In a related development, the RPAL President, speaking about their visit to Mr. Jetty, said: "Our purpose of the visit today is to congratulate Mr. Jetty for giving a lift to the people within the Margibi Community, especially in German Camp."
She recalls that over 850 workers were made jobless when the company recently closed down, which meant hardship for people living in the region. She adds that close family members were left with no option but to leave the plantation to find jobs until Mr. Jetty intervened at a crucial time, giving hope to former workers to restart operations.
She described Mr. Jetty's move as a hard decision and informed him that, based on the factory, he is now a member of the RPAL. The RPAL was established in 1964 in the country.
