By Chris Ochayi

In its efforts to restore the past glory of palm oil production in Nigeria, the Federal Government said it has distributed over 1.3 million oil palm seedlings to 18 oil palm plantations or estates drawn from 11 states in the country.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who flagged-off the seedling distribution exercise during the signing of agreement with the representatives of the 18 oil Palm Plantations in Abuja, said the country will soon become one of the leading producers of oil palm in the world.

Adesina lamented that Nigeria spends over $500 million in the importation of over 350,000 metric tonnes of vegetable oil annually, a situation he described as “unacceptable” to the Nigerian economy.

The minister explained further that under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the present administration, his ministry would support the production of a total of 240,000 hectares of oil palm in the next three years as well as improve the productivity of farmers through fertility management practices.

Oil Palm Seedlings

As part of the measures to increase the productivity and output of oil palm, the minister assured that his ministry will enhance the semi wild grove yield through gradual replacement of old and unproductive wild palms with improved planting materials.

Under the arrangement which is a public-private partnership, the Federal Government would provide free improved nuts or seedlings to the participating estates which will be required to nurse the seedlings for the next 10-12 months and thereafter transplant them to their own plantations. The minister added that the improved oil palm seedlings have high-yielding capacity estimated at over 21 metric tonnes per hectare and high resistance against many tropical diseases.

He disclosed that the Federal Government has concluded plans to introduce motorised harvesters that can harvest 500-900 fresh fruit bunches per day, as well as support the primary processors to own the Small Scale Processing Equipment,SSPE.

To this end, he stated that his ministry has begun the compilation of the list of smallholder co-operative groups interested in the equipment in order to provide them with technical support, noting that First Bank Plc has accepted to provide funds for the purchase of the equipment.

To create viable market for oil palm producers in Nigeria, he said the Federal Government will soon ban the importation of cheap crude palm oil into Nigeria, to forestall a situation where oil palm transformation agenda will  be undermined.

The 18 participating plantations or estates are from Kogi, Edo, Ondo, Delta, Cross River, Ogun, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Abia, Osun and Enugu States.