IPNEWS – The Minister of Agriculture, Ms. Jeanine Milly Cooper, has expressed how “very impressed” she is with the over US$27 million rubber processing plant investment that Indian businessman Upjit Singh Sachdeva has erected in Weala, Margibi County.
“I am very, very impressed with this state-of-the-art rubber processing plant. It has been a long time since I have seen one set up here in Liberia,” the Minister of Agriculture said Saturday, July 15, in Weala.
Ms. Cooper spoke told journalists after she had been led on a guided tour of the facilities by Investor Sachdeva.
The Minister said that in time past there were other rubber, processing plants but none and even some of the ones that are now in operations in Liberia, can match what Sachdeva, who is more famously known in Liberia as “Mr. Jeety”, has.
In addition to the state-of-the-art machines that Jeety has in his factory, the Minister expressed and marveled how Jeety intends to handle the environment.
“There are other things that impress me and maybe he doesn’t know yet; it’s not so much that he has this factory but that he is also taking into consideration the environment: the way that he’s going to be handling the wastes, the way that he’s going to be treating the water. The way that he has sent up the recycling process that the plant can reuse the waste water and not get wasted into the environment,” she said.
Min. Cooper didn’t stop there with her impression: “Plus, he has halved the time that he told me that he would have established this processing plant. He had told me 2024. But here we are in the middle of 2023 and he already has the plant basically operational.”
The Minister disclosed that Jeety is going to fully start operation of the plant on August 24, 2023, which is one of Liberia’s major holidays — Flag Day.
Describing Jeety’s processing plant in the overall economy and as it relates to ‘small holder farmers’ in the industry, the agriculture minister, who is the second female to occupy the post in Liberia’s post-war existence, said that over the years, many farmers, having farms with sizes of between 10 to 50 acres, have joined the industry, which started as a big industry not for small holders. She said those other farmers have nowhere to sell their rubber. “To run a rubber plantation, you need so many other things beside the market where you are going to sell. You need vehicles, you need import supplies, you need to be able to make your payroll, etc. It’s a cash crop that quite an expensive one for an individual to setup.”
So, the Minister said for Liberian farmers in the rubber business, they need an outlet in order to sell their rubber.
“But what is good is that we have a few companies that buy from Liberian farmers. What happens periodically is that Firestone has always had the monopoly; they are main big player that buys from the Liberian farmers. If Firestone plant breaks down and is unable to buy from the Liberian farmers, the whole economy feels it. During Covid they closed down, the whole economy feels it; Firestone sneezes, the rest of us can catch cold.”
She named a few others who are now in the business of buying rubber from the Liberian farmers; adding: “But they, too, can’t handle the volume of rubber that comes from Liberian farmers. Recently, Firestone overbought in response to the Liberian farmers, who wanted to see something for Christmas. They overbought and never had anywhere to store the rubber. So, they slowed down on buying, everybody else who came, couldn’t sell.”
The Minister then went on to praise Jeety for setting up an alternative where farmers can bring their rubber, too, to be sold and where the rubber would be really needed.
The Jeety Rubber Liberia Limited would need several hundred tons of rubber daily to begin producing many rubber products including surgical gloves.
“I am very proud of what he has done in one year’s time. I have not seen another factory of this size being established with state-of-the-art technology and I applaud him. I am very pleased, and our Liberian farmers have this option; and they have a place to sell.”
She then disclosed that Jeety had promised her that he would have started manufacturing rubber articles by 2026 but that time, too, like the factory being operational in 2024, and it’s now operational, has been brought forward to 2024.
“The other thing, Mr. Jeety promised me that by 2026 [that would have started manufacturing] but now he is telling me that by next year 2024, he will start manufacturing rubber articles here in Liberia. And that is the dream that we need to have because processing rubber and shipping it out for somebody else to make something and send it back to us to buy that’s not the vision. The vision is that we will be manufacturing things, including tires. Everybody talks about tires but there are so many things, even surgical gloves.”
As she spoke about the making of the medical gloves, she turned to Jeety and said, “If you set this up and by next year you begin to manufacture surgical gloves, yours will be the first surgical gloves factory on the continent of Africa; and that market can’t finish as you saw during Covid.”
Different interior photos of the main factory building
About the Factory
The factory, which includes warehouses, washing and treatment plants, sits on 13 hectares of property, between two rivers — Weala and Borlor. It is at the moment the largest in the country. The factory building, which is 132,000 sq ft in size, is completely prefabricated.
According to the agreement between the Government of Liberia and Jeety Rubber LLC, Jeety will construct, develop, and operate a national rubber processing and production plant to produce tires and other natural rubber products, including condoms for both sexes.
The processing plant is also expected to produce hand gloves, rain boots, and rubber bands, among others. The company will process approximately 25,000 tons of natural rubber per annum.
Jetty Rubber LLC entered into a concession agreement with Liberian government in December 2021.
