Oil Palm Produce Must Be Value Added to Avoid Liberia’s 90-Year Mistake

Nov 16, 2016 | Liberian Observer
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The oil palm producers in Liberia, notably Malaysia’s Golden Veroleum and Sime Darby, are saying the same thing Harvey Firestone said in 1926, when he established his rubber plantation in Liberia. Mr. Firestone said at the time that Liberia was the best place on earth to grow natural rubber. The reasons were its climate, rainfall and rich soils, which were abundant enough for successful rubber growing. The Firestone Rubber Plantations Company (FPRC) became one of the most highly successful agricultural enterprises in the world. The Liberian government never bothered to demand that Firestone add value to Liberian rubber, but allowed the company to export all of its – and the Liberian planters’ – rubber purely as raw material.