Abstract
The study investigated the perception of rubber farmers on the factors militating against rubber production in Edo and Delta states of Nigeria. Ikpoba-Okha and Ethiope-west Local Government Areas were purposively selected from Edo and Delta states respectively.
A simple random sampling technique was used in selecting 120 rubber farmers as respondents for the study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviation. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation was the inferential statistics used. Findings reveal that 76.7% of the rubber farmers are male, 55.0% are within the age range of 36 to 45 years and are educated to the primary level of education respectively. Also, 85.0% are married with 48.3% having a farm size of between 6 to 10 hectares. Furthermore, friends/relatives ( x =3.48) and radio/television ( x =2.53) were the major sources of production information, while family/relatives ( x =3.72) and hired labour ( x =3.03) were the major sources of farm labour. The use of formic acid (85.8%) and clean coagulating pans (70.0%) were the main rubber production technologies adopted in the study area.
The predominant factors militating against rubber production were credit for production ( x =2.93), low prices of coagula ( x =2.63) and unavailability of land ( x =2.41). Age, (r=-0.001; p>0.05), household size, (r=-0.137; p>0.05) educational level, (r=-0.084; p>0.05) and farm size, (r=-0.175; p0.05) were not significant factor to their perceived constraints militating against rubber production. It was recommended that farmers should be guided on obtaining loans from financial institutions and the land reform agenda of the government should be intensified to enhance easy access to land by small scale farmers.