Constraints to rubber production in Sapele local government area of Delta state, Nigeria

The study investigated among other things the constraints to rubber production in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty rubber farmers randomly selected from twelve villages in the Local Government Area were used to constitute the sample. Stratified andrandom sampling was used. The study indicated that 68.3% of the respondents cultivated between 3 – 5 hectares of land to rubber and they supply rubber product to the rubber factories in Sapele. However, therubber farm size is been threaten by poor/destructive tapping, ageing and conversion of the rubber farms to arable farms. The study revealed that the major constraints to rubber production is conversion of rubber farmland to arable crop farm (93.3%); destruction of rubber trees for firewood (84.2%); poor tapping (81.7%) and aging of existing trees (41.7%)