Enjeux Socio-Économiques Et Contraintes Liés À L’hévéaculture En Pays ͻdjukru Dans La Région De Dabou (Côte d’Ivoire)

Abstract

Rubber production is an activity that grows at the global scale. In Ivory Coast, it has a prominent place, as the country is mainly based on agriculture and the people are more and more interested in that activity. The ͻdjukru people (Dabou region) is also involved in the production of rubber (white gold). Being both qualitative and ethnographic, this study on rubber presents the results obtained from of a field investigation. It concerns the economic value of rubber production, which provides populations with a lot of money. It has also a socio-cultural value, to the extent that income from the trading of latex is used for to meet the people’s daily needs (food, housing, education, clothing, initiation rites). Accordingly, rubber production plays a double role in the region, as to its two principal functions: the first is obvious (economic and social) and the second is latent (cultural).The populations’ interest in rubber production cause many workplace accidents (injuries), diseases (joint pain, respiratory diseases), the significant reducing in arable land, all of which qualify this activity as a risky wealth.