GANTA, Nimba – The largest rubber producer in Liberia, Firestone Rubber Plantation Company, has been accused of driving brokers and suppliers out of business by directly purchasing rubber products from farmers.

The president of the workers’ union for the Nimba Rubber Incorporated (formerly the Cocopa Rubber Plantation), Sakpah Mahn, told reporters that Firestone is engaged in the direct purchase of rubber products from farmers, thereby cutting out the brokers from the market.

“It is unfair to see Firestone playing the role of a player and referee at the same time,” Mahn said. “Firestone Company is the end user, and that should be their role. If Firestone will be going on the field to buy directly from the farmer and at the same time transport it, then what becomes of the brokers and those who have their cars for transporting rubber produce?”

Mahn said the brokers’ union provides livelihoods for those who are engaged in rubber farming, and those who intend to engage in rubber culture production in the future.

He noted that, the only way the link between the rubber farmers and suppliers can be maintained, is for end users like Firestone to withdraw from the direct purchasing and transporting of products from the farmers themselves.

Emmanuel Degleh, a correspondent for the state broadcaster ELBC, spoke with Firestone representatives including Carlos Smith, the head of the company’s Governmental and External Affairs unit.

Degleh said Firestone does not consider their actions illegal, as they have the legal authority to purchase rubber from farmers, as stipulated in the 2008 renegotiated concession agreement.

The clause referenced in the agreement reads, “Firestone-Liberia shall have the non-exclusive right at all times to purchase, without limit, rubber and rubber products from Liberian rubber farmers and others in Liberia and to process, market, sell, deal in and export all such rubber and rubber products.”

Additionally, Degleh said Firestone considers the brokers’ union just a business association and as such, their interest does not supersede that of Firestone. The company was reportedly discontent with how the union previously dealt with farmers, which prompted the move.

Firestone is now directly engaging with farmers to provide them with rubber stumps and trainings, all free of charge. The company claims that the brokers’ union did not provide those amenities to farmers in the past and that may have impacted the quality of the products.

The National Rubber Farmers and Brokers Union of Liberia is a grassroots organization of smallholder rubber farmers and suppliers with a marketing arm called the brokers. The union seeks to protect and defend the common interest of the small holder farmers in the rubber industry of Liberia.

Correction: A previous version of this article listed Sakpah Mahn as the president of the National Rubber Farmers and Brokers Union of Liberia. Mahn is the president of the workers’ union of Nimba Rubber Incorporated.

Featured photo by  Solidarity Center/Bill E. Diggs