Natural rubber (NR), regarded as nature's most versatile raw material is obtained from the latex of Hevea brasiliensis, a tree, native to the tropical rain forests of Amazon and introduced on a commercial scale to the Far East during the last century. In India, organised cultivation of rubber started in 1902 on an estate scale by European planters. This crop however came out of the bounds of th...

Natural rubber is produced by a rubber transferase (a cis-prenyltransferase). Rubber transferase uses allylic pyrophosphate to initiate the rubber molecule and isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) to form the polymer. Rubber biosynthesis also requires a divalent metal cation. Understanding how molecular weight is regulated is important because high molecular weight is required for high quality rubbe...

Does trade liberalization foster total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the manufacturing sector? Does sectoral trade orientation determine sectoral TFP levels and growth rates? These questions are addressed using pooled pre-and post-liberalization panel data from Cameroonian firms of eight manufacturing industries. A single production function for the whole manufacturing sector is estimated...