CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Gabon |
ECONOMY
Rubber production has resumed in Hevea plantations which had been abandoned for a long time.
The French firm, Michelin, recently renewed a contract to buy a significant quantity of rubber
Rubber planters in the villages of the Mitzic area (in the north of Gabon), who harvest rubber on behalf of The Rubber Company of Gabon (HEVEGAB) were discouraged because they weren’t able to harvest enough latex. The rubber plantations were run down and the villagers didn’t have adequate insecticides to improve production. Planters were unable to fulfil Michelin’s annual requirements of 7,200 tons of rubber (the quota was fixed in 1999). The contract was then suspended because HEVEGAB‘s production hardly amounted to 4,088 tons. The reason was the plantations’ deplorable state. The local authorities had little interest in agriculture so the villagers gave up the plantations because they weren’t very profitable. Since then, HEVEGAB and the peasants have come to an agreement to satisfy Michelin’s requirements, in return for a reasonable price per kilo of rubber.
The new contract
A new contract was drawn up at the end of March in Libreville, between Michelin and HEVEGAB. This covers the purchase of 70% of Gabon’s rubber production. Once again, the planters returned in massive numbers to the plantations. A plantation owner put it this way: «Beforehand, we couldn’t harvest enough rubber for sale, because our performance depended on the needs of possible purchasers. However, our plantations were in such a run-down state that we couldn’t possibly honour our side of the contract. Production crashed». A rubber planter, Justin Mboumba, says: «Because of the new orders received, we are now harvesting as much latex as possible from the Hevea trees, because any improvement in our standard of living depends on these efforts. We lack everything in our villages!»
HEVEGAB has a monopoly of Gabon’s rubber sales and its own plantations can’t supply enough rubber to fulfil orders coming from outside the country. Hence the partnership with local plantation owners. Richard Posso is HEVEGAB‘s purchasing agent. He explains: «Usually, the planters are organized in co-operatives and discharge the latex into barrels before HEVEGAB‘s agents arrive to collect the latex». Michelin is the ultimate recipient of the harvest and is regarded as one of the best tire manufacturers in the world. Hevea planters and their close relatives rose to the challenge of new work prospects because they knew the results of their activity were vital for their villages’ survival. But recently, the planters have become worried because the price of rubber tumbled again at the beginning of April due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic which caused a decrease in the Chinese order book. Chris Caiger, of the brokering firm, Symington, analyzed it thus: «The world price of rubber fell because of what was happening with the order from China which had been hit by the SARS outbreak. Everyone had been hoping that China would be a major consumer and thus help to maintain the world price of rubber». Benoît Ndong, who is an accountant with HEVEGAB explains further: «The villagers’ income depends partly on the rapidity with which the epidemic can be contained».
Janvier Essono Assoumani is HEVEGAB‘s director. He says that Michelin contracted to buy 60%-70% of Gabon’s annual rubber production, i.e. between 6,000-7,000 tons at an average price of 350 CFA francs per kg. The planter receives between 250 and 300 CFA per kg. of harvested rubber. An experienced rubber planter already involved in drawing up a list of his future needs, exclaims: «It will be “all hands to the pumps” if we are to honour this contract, whatever the fluctuations in the price of rubber, because we don’t have any alternative». And Essono Assoumou reminds us: «Even if in the world rubber market Gabon remains a modest producer, the fact is, the quality of its rubber is acknowledged worldwide».
We must plant so as to live
In 2001, Gabon’s rubber production peaked at 5,888 tons, i.e. the double of the year 2000’s harvest. This is because rubber production had resumed in the Mitzic plantations following the end of the 1999 to June 2000 halt in production. During this period, sales’ turnover fell by 25.8% following a fall in the price of rubber on the international market, which meant a fall of 18% in the average selling price of rubber exported. According to the government’s central office for the economy, this slipped from 427 CFA francs per kg. in 2000, to 350 CFA francs per kilogramme in 2001
Nathieu Mboumba is an agricultural engineer. He says: «Go to Mitzic, in the north of Gabon, and you’ll find the greatest number of peasants. Output per hectare vary from one village to another. 1,118 kg in Mitzic; 1,639 kg in Bitam; and 862 kg in Kango». The wage bill has increased by 19.3% mainly because work has resumed in the Mitzic plantations.
The rubber plantations are situated in the north and the west of Gabon and cover some 10.012 hectares. In 2003, HEVEGAB‘s directors foresee a production total of some 10,000 tons of rubber. A villager says: «Thanks to the money from the sale of rubber, we could get sufficient credit to install a small cold storage for food, and to establish a fresh water supply for ourselves».
HEVEGAB‘s management team have every hope that rubber production will once again become a major factor in Gabon’s economy, so they’ve made every effort to re-launch the industry in all the available plantations, and especially to help the villagers get the insecticides they need to ensure healthy Hevea tree growth. In some places, the plantations have been overgrown with weeds which prevent the Hevea seedlings from developing well. Formerly a locally-based crop, rubber is now very much an industrial concern. Assoumou says: «HEVEGAB‘s concerns for improvement can be achieved if all those involved are convinced they must do their utmost to fulfil the terms of the new contract». HEVEGAB is absolutely dependent on planters’ keen interest in respecting their export quotas.