Aboisso, Apr 04, 2022 (AIP)- The lack of skilled labor is a “major constraint” for the rubber industry, noted the president of the Association of Natural Rubber Professionals of Côte d’Ivoire (APROMAC ), Eugène Krémien, during an interview with the AIP, Saturday, March 02, 2022, on the sidelines of the launch ceremony of the project “competitive value chains for employment and economic transformation (PCCET) chaired by the Prime Minister, Patrick Achi in Aboisso.

The ratio is one tapper for three hectares, but APROMAC has created about 130,000 hectares of rubber plantations and needs about 44,000 tappers. However, assure the officials, we are far, very far from this figure.

To this major difficulty must be added the poor transfer to producers of good agricultural practices and innovative harvesting techniques, the aging of the orchard, the reduction of agrarian space in traditional production areas, the absence of land titles for most plantations.

The rubber sector, said its president, is also faced with the challenges of processing.

In view of the production which is 1,100,000 t in 2021 in Côte d’Ivoire, there is a low processing rate since only around 600,000 tons are processed, the low rate of secondary processing, the high cost of processing compared to world competitors, the absence of technological research on the transformation of natural rubber, the anarchic installation of first transformation factories are all difficulties facing the sector.

The producers therefore place enough hope in the project “competitive value chains for employment and economic transformation (PCCET)” indicated the president of APROMAC.

created on October 13, 1975, the Association of Natural Rubber Professionals of Côte d’Ivoire helps to create plantations, offers training in the rubber trade and provides support for the maintenance of rubber plantation tracks among others.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne De Presse