CHAPTER ONE  
1.0INTRODUCTION  
1.1 Background Information  Agriculture started with the early men who through the act of hunting discovered that animals caught in traps alive, and kept for future consumption, began to give birth to young ones. They also observed that the wild fruits they travel to a distance to get, and consumed that the seeds thrown around the neighborhood germinated. This is how the sense of rearing animals and cultivation of crops began (Agriculture). Agriculture is very important to every nations of the world. In Nigeria, for example, over 70% of the population earns their living through agriculture or it related occupation. In spite of this Nigeria’s population is still underfed in terms of protein giving foods which results in malnutrition especially among children.   Agriculture is a dominant activity in the rural areas of Nigeria (Onyeabor and Alimba, 2006). According to National Institute for Socio-Economic Survey (NISER, 2003), there are about 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and providing employment directly or indirectly to over 71 percent of the Nigeria population. One of the major problems facing Nigeria today is the need to transform her agricultural system from one depending on traditional inputs with high productivity. This will enable her meet the rising expectations of her rural and urban area. The fact that men and women play an important role in agriculture production is an issue to be reckoned with.  Natural rubber (Heavea brasiliensis) which is traditionally native to the Amazon jungle of South America was introduced to Nigeria from England around 1895, with the first rubber estate established in Sapele in the present day Delta State in 1903. (Giroh et al., 2004). By 1925, there were already thousands of hectares of rubber estates that were predominantly owned by Europeans in Southern Nigeria.   It should be noted that Nigeria has a very vast potential for rubber production especially in many of the southern states in the country where the vegetative and climatic conditions are suitable for its production. Aigbokaen et al., (2000), Abolagba and Giroh (2006) noted that rubber can be grown extensively in Edo, Delta, Ogun, Ondo, Abia, Anambra, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Ebonyi and Rivers states where the annual rainfall range between 1800mm and 2000mm per annum. Rubber is grown in Edo State and large quantities are grown in small areas like Iguorhiaki, Ehor, Irrua in Esan Central Local Government Area.  Harvesting is done when it has attained the age of 6-7 years when the trees are considered matured and have attained a girth circumference of 45cm at a height of 150cm from the ground. The situation in Nigeria presently pretends to drift from being a major exporter of rubber products into becoming a net importer in the nearest future.  Rubber contributes basically three functions in the Nigerian economy in terms of providing raw materials for agro-based industries, foreign exchange earnings and in the provision of employment. With regards to the provision of raw materials, it should be noted that the uses to which rubber can be put is almost innumerable. The latex from rubber is a vital material in the automobile industry as it is used in the manufacture of tyre, car bumpers, transmission belt, car mat, seats etc. The latex is also used for the manufacture of adhesive, baby feeding bottle teat, condom, domestic and industrial gloves, balloons, eraser among others (Abolagba et al, 2003).