Rubber Farming Creates Prosperity
Market-oriented agriculture generates income
The best time for tapping rubber is at sunrise. The latex flows more easily when it is not so hot. Many farmers tap themselves while the wealthy landowners also employ workers.
Source: Michael Ruffert
In a region in western Ghana, market-oriented agriculture provides income and ensures food security. Farmers plant Hevea trees to obtain Latex. They cooperate with a private enterprise that supports them with the cultivation and guarantees the purchase of the rubber. The concept has proven a success, which is why it is to be continued in other regions of Ghana with other agricultural products. A new fund set up by KfW Entwicklungsbank on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) enables similar cooperative efforts, among others with cocoa or citrus farmers. The "financial cooperation" will contribute ten million euros to the "Outgrower and Value Chain Fund", a further 23 million euros was committed during bilateral government negotiations. The experience gathered thus far in Ghana with rubber farming is positive.
It Takes Seven Years Until Latex Flows
The sky is weighed down with fog and drizzle: the otherwise green landscape of coconut palm trees, bushes and trees seems dreary in the grey light. Rain washes the red earth away as the Landrover slides smoothly back and forth through deep troughs. The rain season in Ghana is drawing to a close, with changing weather conditions. Once the Landover reaches the tiny village of Yediyesele in west Ghana, the clouds part again. Blue sky and a little sunshine are revealed.
In a small roofed hall about 50 villagers have come together: some women are wearing colourful clothing, the men have shirts, t-shirts, shorts and pants on. "Plan your future", calls out a man in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. "Plan rubber tree", answers the crowd. That may not be a traditional greeting in the local language but it expresses how closely connected the people are with the Rubber Outgrower Plantations Project (ROPP).
Many people in the hall are farmers who grow rubber. Some have been doing so for years, others only started recently. It was no easy decision since the Hevea trees, from which natural rubber is made, take six to seven years to grow. Only then can the bark be "tapped" to get the milky latex fluid. This is a long time for poor farmers who need to feed their families. "But we support the farmers with seedlings and advise them on how to farm and maintain the plantations properly", says Emmanuel Akwasi Owusu, the man in jeans and a shirt, who heads the ROPP project for the private enterprise Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL).
The rubber producer GREL purchases the farmers' harvests at prices in line with the world market price. The rural residents work in a market-based manner as contract farmers. In addition, during the long planting phase they receive loans from a local commercial bank, the National Investment Bank (NIB), to pay for seedlings and to cultivate and maintain their fields. The loans are long-term and must first be repaid when their plantations achieve yields.
The Ghanaian Ministry of Agriculture promotes this tripartite alliance between the agricultural enterprise GREL, the National Investment Bank NIB and the farmers. The French development agency (AFD) and KfW Entwicklungsbank support the project, provide advice and support its implementation. The first phase of the programme began already in 1995. Since 2006 the programme has been supporting 1,800 farmers in western and central Ghana, who each plant about four hectares of rubber trees, for a total of about 8,000 hectares.
About 150 farmers grow rubber in the small village Yediyesele and its surroundings. Those who "tap" the milky fluid and sell their harvest to GREL achieve a good income. First and foremost among them the Chief, the local ruler of the area, Nana Kwame Essuah III., who started to farm rubber as early as 1995.
The Village Now Has Electricity
At the meeting he wears traditional clothing with stripes and patterns, but during the harvest in the fields he is seen in shorts and a t-shirt as well. "Life in the village has greatly improved through rubber farming", he says convincingly. Now families can send their children to school, even with a bus to the secondary school in the next largest city of Axim. Moreover there are better streets and access roads. Many farmers have built new houses with solid roofs. However for the chief it is particularly important that there is now electricity. The village was able to make its contribution to a government electrification programme.
Through rubber farming Chief Nana Kwame Essuah III. was able to afford a trip to Mecca. Source: Michael Ruffert
The Chief emphasised that the farmers continue to produce enough food for their own needs. They reserved a few hectares for subsistence production to grow cassava and tomatoes, for example. In the region, hunger and undernourishment hardly exists.
A Contribution to Climate Protection
After driving a few kilometres over bumpy roads one reaches the rubber plantation of Ocrah Mensah. The rustic farmer wears a floppy hat, work pants and rubber boots. He has been a rubber farmer for 15 years: his Hevea trees stand in long rows of straight lines on the fields. There is green as far as the eye can see. The trees contribute to reducing greenhouse gases - and thus the project also contributes to climate protection.
Ocrah Mensah's family now has 15 hectares of rubber plantation, as both his first wife ("senior wife") and his son grow this natural product. "Rubber has prolonged my life", he says with a laugh. Now he has money for medicine and good food, and lives in a well-built house. Ocrah Mensah is 72 years old, while the average life expectancy in Ghana is normally about 63 years. His plantation is so large that he and his family cannot tap the trees all by themselves. Mensah employs two wage earners, thereby creating employment and income for people who own no land.
Farmers' Organisation Negotiates the Price for Rubber
The office of the farmers' organisation Rubber Outgrowers & Agents Association (ROAA) is located somewhat outside the coastal city of Takoradi: the management board which regularly meets here is proud of its growing number of members. "We now represent more than 5,000 rubber farmers", emphasised General Secretary Paul Appiah. About two thirds of these are men, the rest are women. ROAA represents farmers in the contract negotiations and in the talks with GREL works toward achieving good prices which are in line with the world market. Globally the demand is high and continues to increase, as natural rubber is widely used for manufacturing car tyres, mattresses and baby pacifiers.
Since the demand for natural rubber continues to climb greatly, all stakeholders in Ghana benefit from the programme. The GREL project manager, Emmanuel Akwasi Owusu, calls it a win-win situation. The agricultural enterprises rely on the contract farmers, since it is hardly possible anymore to purchase other land for large plantations. At the same time the farmers achieve a very good income. GREL calculated that a rubber farmer who plants four hectares will earn about 1,000 euros each month after subtracting costs. An amount that is many times higher than the average income in Ghana. "In this way we boost the economy in the region", emphasised Owusu. This helps fight poverty and promotes sustainable rural development.
Further Information
Friday, 30. December 2011
