INTRODUCTION
Nigeria has recorded a decline in natural rubber
plantation since the late 1960s [1,2]. This has been
attributed to poor plantation management, unstable
market prices, over dependence on petroleum revenue
and lack of access to farm credit which made many local
farmers to pay less attention to their plantations. The
resulting effect of which was low latex yields and eventual
abandoning of the old plantations as revenue declined.
However, the recent increases in the price of natural
rubber due to higher demand in the international market
and the need for Nigeria to diversify her sources of
revenue and create employment for the restive youth especially in the Niger Delta which coincide with the
rubber belt of Nigeria, make it imperative to increase
rubber production in Nigeria and the convenient place to
start is the restoration of the substantial old and
abandoned rubber plantations in the country.