Oil Palm News

Nigeria Ranks 26th IN PALM Oil PRODUCTION -ORTOM

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 11:42:00 +0000

http://www.fmti.gov.ng/departments/investment-promotion-development/156-nigeria-ranks-26th-in-palm-oil-production-ortom.html
By Bolaji O. Kazeem

The Honourable Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom has said that Nigeria ranks 26^th in the world production of palm oil and hardly satisfies her domestic demand.

He made the statement during the stakeholders meeting towards the successful hosting of the 1^st International Palm Produce Conference (IPPC) held today in the Ministry’s headquarters , Abuja.

In his address read by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kigbu, Dr. Ortom said that the inability of meeting local demand in palm oil production was a clear indication that the fortunes of the Palm Oil Sub-Sector have declined significantly.

In his word “It is in this regard, that the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN) in collaboration with my Ministry proposed to organize a conference to serve as a Platform for Interaction with Stakeholders in the oil Palm Industry globally to review and widen contacts as well as foster development al strategies to address the entire Oil Palm value- chain with stakeholders in order to resuscitates the lost glory of the oil palm industry in Nigeria.

Ortom said, the conference was coming at a time the Ministry was setting building blocks in the transformation of the oil palm industry as a catalyst for economic development and prosperity.

“It is also timely, as the forum intends to send strong signals to investors/Stakeholders of existing opportunities in the palm oil industry in Africa with participation of more than 40 countries worldwide:.

He reassured the Stakeholders that the ministry will continue to put in place policies that are needed to facilitate a rapid development of the commodities sector along the value Chain in order to restore the lost glory of palm oil industry.

Ortom urged the stakeholders, Government Agencies, Corporate bodies and others to contribute generally towards the success of this historic occasion which will open up new investment opportunities and a roadmap for tackling the challenges facing the development of the oil palm industry in Nigeria.

In his Remarks, the Director, Commodities and Produce Inspectorate, Mr. Joseph Apanishile charged stakeholders to be committed to the hosting of the international conference which will serve as an avenue to attract investments from the large turn out of investors.

He recalled that Nigeria was before 1965 the world’s largest producer of palm produce but has ceased to contribute to the world’s export of the commodity since 1974 except palm kernel.

Earlier, the President, National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria, Engr. Henry Olatujoye had pointed out that the Ministry has built a robust support to the association for the development value chain in the sector.

According to him, “Palm Produce is a business in 24 States of the Federation. We cannot say we have had a synergy of relationship in the area of cooperation within ourselves to promote and drive the value chain in the sector and we in the private sector were apart. This conference is majorly to bring us together to contribute to the process of policy development by government”.

He noted that Nigeria produce 1.2 million metric tones which were consumed locally with local shortage of 700,000 metric tones and participation in this conference, he said would enable them to exchange ideas and experience to meet local demand.

Bolaji O. Kazeem

PZ Wilmar Set to Make Nigeria Global Leader in Oil Palm Production

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 11:35:00 +0000

By Ebele Orakpo & Naomi Uzor

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/pz-wilmar-set-to-make-nigeria-global-leader-in-oil-palm-production/

Mr. Santosh Pillai is the Managing Director, West Africa, PZWilmar Limited. In this chat with Financial Vanguard at the company’s factory in Lagos during the recent ISO 22000:2005 certificate presentation to the company by Bureau Veritas.

He spoke on the company’s backward integration programme, saying that although Nigeria was once the world’s biggest exporter if palm oil, she currently imports over 350,000 tonnes of palm oil yearly.

Excerpts:

Backward integration: According to Pillai, the goal of PZ Wilmar, the joint venture between PZ Cussons and Wilmar International, is to take Nigeria back to her glorious days as a world leader in palm oil production.

“When we started this palm oil refinery, we simultaneously started our backward integration process. That means we started to grow oil palm in Nigeria.

Nigeria was the world’s leader in oil palm in the 1960s and 1970s and Malaysia and Indonesia took the know-how from Nigeria and over the last 30, 40 years, they have perfected it and have now become world leaders in oil palm production.

So the intention of PZ Wilmar is to restore Nigeria to its former position as world leader in oil palm production, therefore, we are not only putting up a refinery here, which has a capacity of 1,000 tons per day, but we are also interested in growing oil palm. We, therefore, set out on a journey to set up 50,000 hectares of oil palm plantation in Cross River State.

If you visit Cross River State today, we have already acquired 26,500 hectares of land and we are growing the oil palm at Calaro Oil Palm Estate; Ibiae Oil Palm Estate and an estate in Biase.

Apart from these, we also acquired the 12,800-hectare oil palm plantation from Obasanjo Farms. The ex-president has his own plantations in Cross River State and we acquired the plantations in 2012.

Oilpalm Plantation in Nigeria, The Feasibilty Report.

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:04:00 +0000

ESTABLISHING AND OPERATING A OIL PALM PLANTATION IN NIGERIA, THE FEASIBILITY REPORT.

From being the world’s leading producer and exporter of palm oil in the 1960s, Nigeria has fallen to being a net importer to meet the growing domestic demand. Demand is primarily driven by the household consumers who prefer to consume the technical palm oil (TPO) because of its flavor profile, but it is complemented by an increasing demand for the special palm oil (SPO) which can then be fractionated into RBD to meet the needs of industrial processors.http://farriconsultingng.blogspot.com.ng/2015/09/establishing-and-operating-oil-palm.html

Though domestic production is nearly 900,000 tons, there is an estimated overall gap in Nigeria of between 150 and 300,000 tons of TPO and 200,000 tons of SPO, much of which is currently met through imports.

The Nigerian oil palm belt covers twenty-four states including with Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Edo, Osun, Cross River, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Rivers as leading producers. Within the oil palm belt in Nigeria, 80% of production comes from dispersed smallholders who harvest semi-wild plants and use manual processing techniques.

Several million smallholders are spread over an estimated area ranging from 1.65 million hectares to 2.4 million hectares and to a maximum of 3 million hectares. The estimate for oil palm plantations in Nigeria ranges from 169,000 hectares (72,000 ha of estate plantations and 97,000 ha of smallholder plantations) to 360,000 hectares of plantations.

In a further bid to encourage local production of palm products to satisfy local demand, importation of bulk crude and refined vegetable oil was prohibited in 2001. In response to this ban and consequently increasing demand for local product, there has been some increase in private sector investments in the development of new oil palm plantations and the expansion of existing ones. Smallholdings and out grower schemes were also being promoted by the Federal and State Governments.

Palm oil forms an important part of the local diet in Nigeria because animal fats such as milk and butter are hardly consumed. It is used both as a cooking material and as an ingredient in soups, sauces and a variety of local dishes. Consequently, there had long been a thriving market for palm oil both within the main areas of production in eastern and western Nigeria and between these regions and the non-palm oil producing northern region.

Palm kernel oil {PKO} is an important and cheap source of oil for soap manufacturers ,bio-fuel, cooking oil, vegetable ghee, Shortenings, Margarine, CBS,CBE, ice cream, dough, creaming, coating, and other specialty fats while palm kernel cakes are used in animal feed production. The market for Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) is very large. About 80% of all the edible vegetable oil consumed in Nigeria is made from refined palm kernel oil.

In Nigeria, the major buyers of palm kernel oil are vegetable oil refineries and soap making companies and our focus would be on vegetable oil refineries and soap making companies. We shall narrow down to vegetable oil refineries since their demand is far above supply.

It is estimated that only about 75% of the demand for palm kernel oil by local vegetable oil refineries and soap making companies is being meet in Nigeria.

Extensive market research has revealed that palm oil, palm kernel oil {PKO} and palm kernel cake are everyday goods used by individuals as well as Industries. Thus, the market is ongoing and is not dependent on economic cycles and can be described as a FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) commodity market.

The company seeks to examine establish a 5,000 hectares oil palm plantation with processing plant, producing palm oil, palm kernel oil and cake from fresh fruit bunch {FFB}.

Oil palm Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 11:58:00 +0000

Nigeria-Lessons to learn from Malaysia, experience, opportunities and foreign direct investment.....

read more...http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/JDAE/article-full-text-pdf/D37218E53800
The oil palm is a perennial crop that originated in the tropical rain forest of West Africa. It spread to South America in the 16th century and to Asia in the 19thcentury. During the 1970s, Asia overtook Africa as the principal oil palm producing region in the world.
In recent decades, the domestic consumption of palm oil in West Africa has increased more rapidly than its production After centuries as the leading producing and exporting region, West Africa has now become a net importer of palm oil.Between 1961 and 1965 world oil palm production was1.5 million tonnes, with Nigeria accounting for 43%. However, since then, oil palm production in Nigeria has virtually been stagnated. But today, world oil palm production amounts to 14.4 million tonnes, with Nigeria which is one of the largest producers in West Africa,accounting for only 7%.
Read more ...http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/JDAE/article-full-text-pdf/D37218E53800

Global Palm Production to Rise after Short-Term Dip

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 09:30:00 +0000

KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil should record sizeable increases in production over the next three to five years as new plantings reach maturity, but not before a short-term decline in output growth, leading industry analyst James Fry said....

http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2015/10/07/Global-palm-production-to-rise-after-shortterm-dip/?style=biz

Dry weather from a possible El Nino event, the failure of smallholders to use fertiliser and less sun exposure for crops due to smoke haze in leading producers Indonesia and Malaysia could all combine to lower yields over the next 18 months.
"But you have another underlying cycle," said Fry, chairman of commodities consultancy LMC International, pointing to increased yields from newer trees planted in Kalimantan, Indonesia and Malaysia's east coast state of Sarawak.
"We are in a period where with growing maturity, there should be sizable increases in CPO production for the next 3-5 years," he said in a speech at the International Palm Oil Congress and Exhibition conference in Kuala Lumpur late on Tuesday.
"These are new areas, it takes years to come to peak production so we're waiting for this backlog of trees that have been planted," he said.
"You're looking at growth of 3-4 percent a year on average from new maturing areas."
Fry also said the floor price for palm oil would be determined by crude oil, which he expected to hold above $30 and below $100.
"We are going to see an emergence of a price band in the petroleum market where shale oil producers come in and out according to profitability, stopping crude oil from ever going up to $100 again and from falling below $30 a barrel," he said.
"Palm oil, as the other oils, will be tied to that price band."- Reuters

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 07:30:00 +0000

The Okomu Oil Palm Company was established in 1976 as a Federal Government pilot project aimed at rehabilitating oil palm production in Nigeria. At inception, the pilot project covered a surveyed area of 15,580 hectares out of which 12,500 hectares could be planted with oil palm. It was incorporated on December 3, 1979 as a limited liability company.

As part of efforts to shore up its revenue base, the company acquired and installed a 1.5-tonne fresh Fruit Bunches /hour mill in 1985 to begin to process its FFB. Prior to the installation of the mill, the company derived its revenue from the sale of FFB.

By December 31, 1989, 5,055 hectares of the estate had been planted. The company also began infrastructural developments on the estate at that period. The facilities included office blocks, workshops/stores, staff quarters, a petrol station, a powerhouse and a primary school for children of the company’s staff members.

In 1990, the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) privatized The Okomu Oil Palm Company on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. It has since grown to become Nigeria’s leading oil palm company with 8,800 ha of mature palm, a young extension of 4,000 ha of rubber, and a palm oil mill of 30 tons per hour capacity.

The privatisation of the Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc has been a great success and a huge encouragement for the Nigerian agricultural sector for the future, with profound positive consequences of stable socio –economical growth for the region where it is implanted. The success of the company was further exemplified by the strong increase of its net income which allowed doubling of its dividend.

This company has consistently posted profits in the last 10 years, a period during which most other agricultural initiatives in the country had either folded –up or were performing sub-optimally.

What is most inspiring is not just the growth and profitability of the company but the fact that The Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc is ranked 10th among listed companies with the largest turnovers quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). It is the only agric-business in the NSE’s top 16 companies with the largest turnovers. According to the June – July issue of the Bottomline magazine, The Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc is the ninth company with the highest profits before tax among companies quoted on the NSE, and the only agro-business on the Exchange’s top 16.

Today, what is now known as The Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc has transformed into an economic success, earning presidential commendation and recording over 300 percent rise in profit after - tax (PAT) from the preceding year.

The excellent quality of oil produced by Okomu guarantees good selling price on the local market, which absorbs the whole production.

Just as its expanding in size, its corporate environment is also expanding. Currently, the company employs over 800 permanent and several independent sub-contractors. All these have added up to place it on top in the burgeoning oil palm business and to position it as an emerging leader in rubber production.

Okomu benefits from the quality management provided by its main shareholders and technical partner (SOCFINAF). With a 53.32% share in Okomu Oil Palm Plc, SOCFINAF is the biggest single shareholder in the company. SOCFINAF brings into Okomu Oil Palm Plc a little under a century of sound acclaimed technical expertise in the world stage. SOCFINAF (Luxemburg), is a global player in the cultivation of oil palm, rubber, coffee and tropical flower. SOCFIN S. A. founded in 1912 was the first industrial company to plant oil palm in Africa and Indonesia. It has ongoing plantation operations in Cote D’ivoire, Liberia, Guinea, Cameroon, Kenya and Indonesia.

Palm oil Fallacies With a Full-on Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Palm oil is the most consumed vegetable oil in the world. A key product for responding to the needs of the world food-processing industry, it accounts for 35% of the world vegetable oil market.

http://www.star2.com/palmoil/2015/10/05/quashing-palm-oil-fallacies-with-a-full-on-campaign/

In Malaysia, the development of sustainable palm oil is a major source of employment, and has constantly contributed towards the eradication of poverty.

Despite its benefits however, public perceptions about palm oil, particularly in parts of Europe, have not always been positive. Due to years of negative campaigning by certain NGOs and groups, palm oil has been unfairly blamed for a host of problems, with myths persisting about its supposed impact on nutrition, health, the environment, economies, and sustainable development in Asia and Africa.

To counter these fallacies, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) launched an information campaign in France and Belgium on Sept 7. Themed They say everything and anything at all about Malaysian palm oil, the campaign aims to combat preconceived ideas about palm oil, while inviting the public to form their own opinions about the crop.

“Palm oil is an excellent product and food manufacturers are aware of this. Unfortunately, wrong information is passed on to consumers and this has affected its image. Today, perception is the new reality, and we must take this seriously,” says MPOC CEO Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron.

This is the first time that MPOC is launching such an information campaign in Europe. According to Dr Yusof, his organisation decided to start the campaign in France and Belgium, due to the need to tackle the myths where they are strongest.

“Palm oil has suffered from an image problem in France and Belgium for a number of years, due to negative and disparaging campaigns. France is a very important market in Europe, because the country is seen as a leader in both issues of food and health, and also of the environment,” says Dr Yusof.

“Where France leads, many other countries in Europe often follow, so it is very important for MPOC to be present there, and active. So continued engagement in Europe – where the opposition is strongest – is very important.”

Do you Know About Okitipupa Oil Palm Company

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 09:35:00 +0000

Okitipupa Oil Palm Company Plc produces palm oil and palm kernel from its many hectares of oil palm plantation spread round the okitipupa local government area and beyond. These products can sustain thriving vegetable oil processing companies in the locality.
There is presently none. The Local Government can boast of about 7,000 hectares of oil palm and turned into oil palm belt with every family owing a plantation of its own. The Local Government is the highest producer of palm oil and palm kernel in the southwestern part of Nigeria.

http://www.okitipupaoilpalm.com/products.htm

The main products of OKITIPUPA Oil Palm Plc are Crude Palm Oil, Technical Oil, Palm Kernel, Sterin [pharmaceutical], Palm wine, Broom, Seedlings, Ashes, Brown Soap, Nursery Practices, potential for Vegetable Oil, potential for Oil Fat.

Top grade of the oil produced is Special Palm Oil (SPO) constituting more than 80% of OKITIPUPA Oil Palm Plc’s sales volume. Lower grades of Palm Oil include Technical Palm Oil and Sludge. These are mainly supplied to industrial users to manufacture soaps, margarine, vegetable oils, etc. Also, palm kernel and other lower grades of palm oil attract various customers who use them for household purposes. Since the inception of the company, oil products have been sold in bulk. These products constitute major contribution towards Nigeria’s drive to self-sufficiency in some of its industrial raw material. Nationally, there is still a gap between the supply and demand for Special Palm Oil. It is in this regard that OKITIPUPA Oil Palm Plc as part of its medium term strategy plans to develop her Reserve Areas to further boost its production.
The energy saving project, through the conversion of wastes which is produced in abundance, will be included to generate steam and electricity. This project is expected to automatically increase profits and stimulate steady growth. The completion of this phase of re engineering will usher in an era of increased profits. This will pave way for early resumption of dividend declaration and payment.

The processing of palm kernel to crude palm kernel oil and cake shall soon be embarked on. This requires acquisition of palm kernel crushing plant and further investment in bleaching plant and machinery that will convert both crude palm kernel oil and red palm oil to vegetable oil and other byproducts. These byproducts will further be used as raw materials by many manufacturing outfits in the country.

Implementation of the above is aimed to further enhance diversification of OKITIPUPA Oil Palm Plc's revenue earning capabilities. Thereby transforming into higher turnover, increased profit, stable dividend declaration and payment regimes.

http://www.okitipupaoilpalm.com/products.htm

Oil Palm Farmer Dies of Shock in Ekiti State

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 09:30:00 +0000

Govt stops work on site
Posted By: Odunayo Ogunmola
http://thenationonlineng.net/ekiti-airport-project-oil-palm-farmer-dies-of-shock/

Even before its take-off, the proposed Ekiti airport project has allegedly claimed its first casualty.

An oil palm plantation farmer, Tijani Hakeem, reportedly died from shock after his farm was destroyed by bulldozers.

The Nation gathered exclusively in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday that the government decided to stop the project for now, following the tension generated by the destruction of economic trees on the land.

A meeting was held with traditional rulers, community leaders and families in the five villages affected.

The communities affected are Igbemo, Igbogun, Aso Ayegunle, Ijan and Araromi Obbo spanning three local government areas of Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ado and Gbonyin.

Secretary of Iwajo Family Oso Olorunfemi, who spoke after the meeting, said the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Taelolu Otitoju, promised to hold an enlarged meeting on the development.

He added that Otitoju, who conveyed the agreement reached to Fayose through a telephone chat, agreed that work on the site would stop for now, pending more meetings with interest groups.

Olorunfemi said aggrieved land owners and families met with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Ademiloye Fasiku, who appealed to them to maintain peace and promised that bulldozers would be withdrawn for now.

He said Fasiku sympathised with them on the economic trees and crops destroyed.

Olorunfemi said: “It is unfortunate that an oil palm plantation owner, Tijani Hakeem, died from shock, following the destruction of his economic trees and crops.

“The lives of these people depend on their plantations and we have told the government repeatedly that the land is not a virgin land.

“The government officials were made to understand that there is nothing they can give us that is meaningful except adequately compensating us.

“We told them we should be allowed to harvest the crops before anything is done on the land....

http://thenationonlineng.net/ekiti-airport-project-oil-palm-farmer-dies-of-shock/

For the moribund Okitipupa Oil Palm Plc, succour came from Guaranty Trustbank Plc recently, as a loan of N320 million has been granted the ailing company to enable it spring back to life

Impeccable sources disclosed to The Guardian recently that the bank had granted a loan of N320 to the company to enable it come back to life, out of which N150 million had been released and spent so far to revive the company\'s operations.

Besides, the company\'s board was said to have stabilised and members of the board agreed at the meeting held in Lagos at the weekend to return the company to profitability.

To finally stabilise the company, the board has concluded arrangement to raise fresh funds though a right issue or a hybrid offering.

A member of the company\'s board of directors, Chief Aderemi Oyepeju said: \"The board is stabilised now and at the board meeting held last weekend there was a roadmap to profitability henceforth.\"

He continued: \"Very soon, we are coming to the shareholders for a right issue. There is a cheering news for shareholders that the company has secured a loan which is about N320 million out of which N150 million has been released and spent to revive the company\'s operations. There is great potential in Okitipupa Oil Palm.\"

The core investors are said to have agreed to take up their rights fully. Esterpot, a foreign investor is said to have 35 per cent interest in the company and has already agreed to take their right in full.

Incorporated on May 10, 1976, the company was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on August 10, 1989, the agriculture sub-sector.

As at last weekend, the company\'s earning per share stood at o.oo, while per earning ratio stood at 0.00 and the last time dividend was paid was September 20, 2003, when it paid seven kobo per share.

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CBN’s Forex Restrictions on Crude Palm Oil: Economic Implications

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 09:13:00 +0000

By ADESHOLA OGBODO

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/10/cbns-forex-restrictions-on-crude-palm-oil-economic-implications/

The consumption of palm oil in Nigeria amounts to 1.0 million Metric Tonnes (MT) per annum. 90percent of palm oil is consumed by the food industry and the remaining 10percent is used by the non-food industry.

Foods like noodles, vegetable oil, biscuits, chips, margarines, shortenings, cereals, baked stuff, washing detergents and even cosmetics thrive on…

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/10/cbns-forex-restrictions-on-crude-palm-oil-economic-implications/

CBN Pledges to Support Oil Palm Revival

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 12:30:00 +0000

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday said it will do everything within its powers to support the revitalisation of the oil palm sector in Nigeria in order to provide jobs for the citizens.

CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, made the pledge in Abuja during a meeting between the bank’s management and oil palm value chain stakeholders to agree on a road map to resolve the challenges in the oil palm value chain in Nigeria.

He expressed concern at the contrasting fortunes of Nigeria from being the largest producer of palm oil worldwide in the late 1950s and 1960s, to becoming a net importer of the commodity from the 1980s to date.

According to him, Nigeria currently lags behind in a distant fifth position in world production, behind countries, that many years ago, sent emissaries to Nigeria to learn production techniques and to get their first seedlings.

A statement from the bank said Emefiele also decried the practice where huge amounts were spent to import items that could ordinarily be produced locally.

He stressed the need for all stakeholders to collaborate and restore the glory days to the oil palm sector in the country.

While recalling the recent policy of the CBN that excluded 41 items from being procured with foreign exchange from the Nigerian foreign exchange markets, he reiterated that the policy measure was introduced to help conserve the nation’s foreign reserves, facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and improve on employment generation.

He said the CBN decided to take the lead and play a major role in the resuscitation of the oil palm sector and decided to take a bold step and include palm kernel, palm oil products and vegetable oils in the exclusion list of items not valid for foreign exchange at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange window.

Emefiele also reiterated that the decision taken by the CBN to include palm oil products in the exclusion list was taken after a thorough analysis of the sub sector.

NIFOR Warns Against Adulteration of Palm Oil

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 12:17:00 +0000

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/08/26/nifor-warns-against-adulteration-of-palm-oil/

Dr Celestine Ikuenobe, Director of Research, Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), has warned against adulteration of palm oil.

Ikuenobe, who issued the warning on Wednesday in Calabar, at a workshop organised for palm oil producers in the state, said adulteration could pose health risk to consumers.

The director decried the adulteration of palm oil with chemicals used in dyeing of clothes, which he said was unsafe for human consumption.

He said that unless such unwholesome practices were checked, a major health disaster might occur in the country.

According to him, the adulteration is not only in palm oil, but also in palm seedlings sold to farmers.

“The palm oil supplied to the Nigerian markets and the diaspora is often adulterated with dye chemicals, which make such oil unsafe for human consumption.

“This act is unacceptable and unless something drastic is done, a health disaster might result in the country.

“Because of the low palm oil production in the country, we contribute nothing to the international global palm oil supply,” he said.

Ikuenobe called on farmers not to patronise people who offered them seedlings at a cheaper price but should instead, buy from the ministry of agriculture in the states.

He urged cooperative societies, farmers and growers, to interface with Solidaridad and ministry of agriculture in states, to access loan and learn best production practices to enhance their oil production.

Reasons Behind The Ban of Palm Oil and Other Agricultural Products by EU

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 11:58:00 +0000

By Hamisu Muhammad, Francis Arinze Iloani & Philip Clement Shimnom
http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/what-nigeria-needs-to-woo-eu-market-trade-envoy/110921.html

Filippo Amato is the Head of Trade and Economics Section of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In this exclusive interview with Daily Trust business team, he clarifies the issues surrounding the recent ban imposed on Nigeria by the EU.
He also looks at EU’s interventions and grants to Nigeria and gains recorded.

Why did the EU impose ban on some selected imports from Nigeria?

First of all I would like to clarify that the EU has not banned the import of several agricultural products from Nigeria, as wrongly stated in a number of national newspapers. Although it is true that there are a number of food products (such as melon seeds, dried meat, palm oil) imported from Nigeria that are sometimes rejected at the EU border because they are found to contain dangerous substances for human health, the import suspension measure adopted by the EU only concerns dried beans. It is actually worrying that wrong information circulates in the national media, as this creates a lot of uncertainty and confusion for exporters of several other goods, which can continue to be exported to the EU provided they comply with the applicable standards. The reason for the import suspension measure of dried beans is that since January 2013 more than 50 rejections have been recorded at the EU border in relation to this product originating from Nigeria, nearly all of them reporting the presence of the unauthorised pesticide dichlorvos at levels largely exceeding the acute reference dose tentatively established by the European Food Safety Authority. Only in the first semester of 2015, the UK rejected 10 shipments of dried beans coming from Nigeria for excessive content of this pesticide. This represents a rate of rejections of more than 70 percent of dried beans coming from Nigeria in the last two and a half years. In order to allow the time necessary for Nigeria to provide feedback and to consider the appropriate risk management measures, the suspension of imports of dried beans applies until 30 June,2016.

What is expected from Nigeria for the ban to be lifted and how to prevent a recurrence?

To lift the ban, the Nigerian authorities must provide an export control plan to assure that the beans exported to the EU comply with the EU Minimal Risk Levels for Hazardous Substances. Export control programmes normally include the following elements: control of farmers and certification to Good Agricultural Practice (farmers trained in safe use of pesticides, keeping records of pesticide applications etc.), traceability of exported consignments to certified farmers, and sampling and analysis in accredited laboratories. In particular the residues of the highly toxic pesticide dichlorvos are of concern for the EU.

What is the current state of business relations between Nigeria and the EU?

The European Union is Nigeria’s major trading partner, as confirmed by the most recent figures released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. Actually the EU is already the largest importer of non-oil products from Nigeria. However, it is a fact that exports of Crude Oil represent about 96 percent of all exports from Nigeria to the EU. This means that Nigeria exports of non-oil products represent less than 5 percent of its overall exports to Europe. For instance, in 2014, the overall value of Nigerian exports to the EU was about 28 billion EUR of which less than 1 billion accounted for by non-oil products. The key to economic development is not protectionism, but a good mix of policy measures and reforms capable to increase the competitiveness of all sectors of the economy and consequently Nigeria’s trade relations with the rest of the world. We get such statements all the time from exporters that would like to be able to invest further in their current businesses. Let’s take for instance the recent measure adopted by the CBN that has restricted access to foreign exchange for the import of more than 41 categories of products. One of the intended objectives of the measure is to stimulate the internal supply of these goods. But artificially limiting the imports cannot alone achieve the objective to increase productivity. One tool that would considerably enhance trade relations, and increase the potential to diversify the exports from Nigeria to the EU, is the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and ECOWAS. The criticism raised in Nigeria against this agreement is often due to an emotional and misconceived perception of the agreement. The agreement provides for the immediate removal of all tariffs on imports from West Africa to the EU, while it provides for a gradual reduction of tariffs on imports from the EU to West Africa over a period of 20 years and only for machineries, intermediate and capital goods, while allowing West Africa to maintain tariff protection over its agricultural products and consumer goods.

What are EU’s major trade interventions and grants to Nigeria?

In support of Nigeria to improve competitiveness, EU has provided €19m (N3.9B) grants to Nigeria through the National Planning Commission for the diversification of the economy from oil to non-oil. This grant is implemented through the Nigerian Private Sector Competitiveness Support Programme. The programme aims to improve the Nigerian business and investment climate through the improvement and implementation of regulatory reforms especially in the areas of competition policy, land titling and business licensing with pilots in Kano state. The successes achieved in Kano will be replicated in other states. As part of the programme, the EU is helping Nigeria to establish the National Quality Infrastructure. In this, the EU is working closely with Standard Organization of Nigeria, NAFDAC, CPC and other stakeholders to improve the quality of products manufactured, exported and exchanged in the Nigerian market and to protect consumer rights. In these projects, the EU is partnering with GIZ, DFID and UNIDO. As you are aware, Nigeria in terms of population and economy is over 60 percent of ECOWAS. The EU combined support to ECOWAS and Nigeria in the areas of Trade and Economic Development is over €1.3billion between 2008 and 2014. In energy, our current 10th EDF (European Development Fund) intervention is the Nigeria Energy Support Programme, that started in May 2014 and will finish in September 2017, with a 15.5 million euro funding from our the EU and being implemented by GIZ. The project focuses on renewable energy, energy efficiency, rural electrification and technical skills development issues.

How can exporters in Nigeria leverage on opportunities in the EU to increase value and volume of exports?

As I explained, the EU is already supporting through a number of projects the improvement of the business environment and the competitiveness and quality of Nigerian products. To the extent that Nigerian products comply with EU standards, any exporter can take advantage of these programmes to increase exports towards the EU. I think it is important for exporters to know that the EU has set up a website which helps them to get information on the requirements to export to the EU. This is called the Export Helpdesk.
On the issue of Trade Partnership Agreement, some Nigerian authorities feel they are not preferred. How is the partnership faring contrary to what these authorities are thinking? The trade agreement is not a tradition, but it only tries to find the best deal to sell products. The EU is providing unilateral free access to market ideas for several years but then it was found that it was incompatible with WTO and so solution was found with the dichotomy agreement. Solution was found together with dialogue with ACP countries including West African countries, was to negotiate regional bilateral agreement reciprocal agreements but not completely reciprocal agreement but will allow for a second opening of the ACP countries so that will constitute a sort of regional agreements which is compatible with WTO. Negotiations were carried for several years and we perfectly understood that we have to continue our development cooperation with the ACP countries and we never tried to transform our relations into normal sympatriate relations. The whole objective of the agreement was to continue with our development cooperation objectives but we use trade as an instrument to improve the development of the ACP countries including West Africa.

Some European nations have been doubtful of investing in Nigeria due to insecurity. Now that we are seeing progress, have you started communicating with them that the condition has improved?

I don’t think we need to communicate to them because it was news in the media all over the world especially the smooth transition of power from former administration and to me it has given an enormous beneficial signal to the business community that things are improving. Business, of course, will have a net because we understand that this administration is also putting everything in place to address important problems like corruption but of course there has to be a new government in place for business to be comfortable to understand what the new policy is. But I think in terms of security, this is a good method and from what we are hearing from the news, insurgency in the northeast seems to be gradually solving.

With the EU economic crisis such as unemployment recently, do you think it will affect the future of the EU?

I think the problem has been overcome and Greece is still in the EU and after long negotiation. Everything is over and I think all European member states are doing everything possible to improve their economy.

What is your take on the recent migrants trooping into Europe? Will the crisis not add more stress to the internal economy?
I am not sure because sometimes there are a lot of opportunities for employment. Certainly, there are a lot of migrants in Europe for economic reasons and there are some conditions for migrants indicating whether they are migrating just for economic reasons or otherwise and with the EPA, there are better opportunities for migrants and in the case of war, we cannot close our doors on them.

The Nigerian Palm Oil Industry: What went Wrong and The Way Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 11:54:00 +0000

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/04/the-nigerian-palm-oil-industry-what-went-wrong-and-the-way-forward-part-1-3/

By Peter Osalor

Nigeria’s once-thriving palm oil industry is often cited as one of the most miserably failed economic opportunities in Africa.

Agriculture has suffered from years of mismanagement, inconsistent and poorly conceived government policies, and the lack of basic infrastructure. Still, the sector accounts for over 26.8 per cent of GDP, and two-thirds of employment.

Nigeria is no longer a major exporter of cocoa, groundnuts (peanuts), rubber, and palm oil production, mostly from obsolete varieties and overage trees, is stagnant at around 180,000 tons annually; 25 years ago it was 300,000 tons. An even more dramatic decline in groundnut and palm oil production also has taken place.

Use of the oil palm fruit to extract edible oil has been in practice across the continent for centuries, and it remains an essential ingredient in much of West African cuisine.

Farmers in the region, who inter-cropped oil palm trees with other food crops like yam and maize, started the first export trade early in the 19th Century. Before its close, the industrial revolution in Britain had created a huge demand for palm oil, which by then had found its way to use in candle making and as an industrial lubricant.

The economic importance of palm oil grew steadily because of its high yield, leading European colonists to start plantations in Central Africa by 1900. As palm oil found wider use in food-processing and industry, global demand for the commodity surged. By 1982, worldwide palm oil exports had grown to a staggering 2,400,000 million tonnes per annum.

For most of this period, Nigeria held centre stage as one of the largest producers and exporters of palm oil, accounting for more than 40% of global output in the 1950s. At the time of the country’s independence from British colonial rule in 1960, palm oil contributed 82% of national export revenue.

However, the oil boom of the mid-seventies and the subsequent decline of farming proved catastrophic to the sector. By the end of the twentieth century, the Nigerian palm oil harvest had dwindled to just 7% of global production. More embarrassingly, the once-largest exporter had turned into a net importer of palm oil, sourcing 180,000 MT of the commodity from international markets to meet local demand1.

The fundamental flaw with the palm oil sector lies in Nigeria’s colonial origins, when British trade necessities dictated economic policy. Because of its primary export orientation at that time, planned expansion of the industry was slow in coming through and its future competitiveness had been compromised.

As a result, the bulk of Nigerian palm oil comes from dispersed and semi-wild groves, and through the use of highly outdated manual processing techniques. Several attempts to establish large-scale plantations since the 1960s – including the Cross River State plan and the Oil Palm Belt Rural Development Programme – ended in miserable failure.

Currently, 80% of production comes from scattered smallholdings spread over an estimated 1.6 million hectares of land. In contrast, plantations occupy only about 300,000 hectares – most of it coming up over the last decade with private sector investment.

Economic reforms initiated since the reinstatement of democracy in 1999 succeeded somewhat in nudging the sector out of stagnation. Between 2001 and 2005, palm oil production grew rapidly from 760 MT to 800 MT, while recording a corresponding rise in local consumption.

Much of this movement can be owed to a ban that Abuja imposed in 2002 on the import of palm oil and related products. However, Abuja’s reversed the ban in January 2008, prompting grave misgivings about the fate of the industry and impact on local production.

The Plantation Owners Forum has gone so far as to say the move would severely threaten Nigeria’s Vision 2020 goals for accelerated economic development. Inconsistent policies like this are largely to blame for the fact that Nigeria’s palm oil industry continues to flounder despite the marked resurgence of agriculture through the last decade.

FG Develops 9m Oil Palm Sprouts for Farmers, Investors

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 11:53:00 +0000

Posted by ERICJAMES.OCHIGBO

http://www.nannewsnigeria.com/fg-develops-9m-oil-palm-sprouts-farmers-investors

Abuja, Sept. 30, 2015 (NAN) The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has urged farmers and investors to take advantage of nine million oil palm sprouts developed by the ministry to develop the sector.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Sonny Echono, who made the call while briefing newsmen in Abuja said that the ministry was determined to make Nigeria a net exporter of the produce.

He said the seedlings had already been distributed to major oil palm companies as well as individuals.
He said that large stocks of the seedling were still left in a number of states across the country.
``We want to bring this to the attention of potential investors and oil palm farmers to off take these seedlings and make use of it.
``They are available in 24 states of the Federation, Cross River, Aqua Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Osun, Kwara, Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, Nasarawa, Kogi and Plateau states.
``They are being sold at highly subsidised rate of 80 naira per raised seedling; we have raised them for one year and they are ready for planting,’’ he said.
He said they are economic trees when planted, has high returns and they remain relevant for several years, encouraging Nigerians to take advantage of the evolution in the oil palm industry.
He said the seedlings were developed in collaboration with Oil Palm Research Institute. (NAN)

Gov Ikpeazu To Relaunch Abia As Major Oil Palm Producer

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 11:51:00 +0000

http://leadership.ng/news/465036/gov-ikpeazu-to-relaunch-abia-as-major-oil-palm-producer

By Matthias Nwogu

Poised to launch Abia back to a major Palm Produce state in the country and as part of its economic programme of making agriculture the pivot of the state economy, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu said the state has planted 150, 400 exotic palm seedlings.

He said that the target of his administration is that by the year 2018 after extant palm estate have been rehabilitated the state would have bounced back as one of the major producers of Palm Produce in the country.

Abia which has comparative advantage in oil palm, it could be recalled was part of the defunct eastern region whose palm produce based economy was adjudged the fasted growing economy in the country before the discovery of crude oil.

The Governor who disclosed this during an interactive section with Journalists in Umuahia said that 400 Abia youths would soon leave for Port Novo to understudy the innovative agricultural system in that West African country.

In the area of commerce he said that the foundation for the take-off of the construction of industrial clusters in Aba for leather and fabric has been laid with the recent tour of some of the artisans to Istanbul, Turkey

He said that the state has the capacity to manage and maintain the machines that would soon arrive the state for the clusters which will bring economy of scale to thousands of artisans who have been carrying out their trades on individual levels.

The Governor said that his administration has set in motion programmes to reduce poverty and enhance employment which included the Education for Employment programme (E for E) which he said has commenced in the three technical schools in Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia.

Elaeis guineensis

noreply@blogger.com (Oil Palm News) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 09:28:00 +0000

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elaeis guineensis is a species of palm commonly called African oil palm or macaw-fat. It is the principal source of palm oil. It is native to west and southwest Africa, specifically the area between Angola and the Gambia; the species name guineensis refers to the name for the area, Guinea, and not the modern country which now bears that name. The species is also now naturalised in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Sumatra, Central America, the West Indies and several islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The closely related American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and a more distantly related palm, Attalea maripa, are also used to produce palm oil.

Human use of oil palms may date as far back as 5,000 years in West Africa; in the late 1800s, archaeologists discovered palm oil in a tomb at Abydos dating back to 3,000 BCE.^[It is thought that Arab traders brought the oil palm to Egypt.

Description

Mature palms are single-stemmed and grow to 20 m tall. The leaves are pinnate and reach between 3-5 m long. A young palm produces about 30 leaves a year. Established palms over 10 years produce about 20 leaves a year. The flowers are produced in dense clusters; each individual flower is small, with three sepals and three petals.

The palm fruit takes five to six months to mature from pollination to maturity. It is reddish, about the size of a large plum, and grows in large bunches. Each fruit is made up of an oily, fleshy outer layer (the pericarp), with a single seed (the palm kernel), also rich in oil. When ripe, each bunch of fruit weighs 40–50 kg (88–110 lb).

Planting

Oil palm fruit

For each hectare of oil palm, which is harvested year-round, the annual production averages 10 tonnes^{[citation needed]} of fruit yielding 4,000 kg of palm oil and 750 kg^{[citation needed]} of seed kernels yielding 500 kg of high quality palm kernel oil, as well as 600 kg of kernel meal. Palm fronds and kernel meal are processed for use as livestock feed.

All modern, commercial planting material consists of tenera palms or DxP hybrids, which are obtained by crossing thickshelled dura with shell-less pisifera. Although common commercial germinated seed is as thick-shelled as the dura mother palm, the resulting palm will produce thin-shelled tenera fruit. An alternative to germinated seed, once constraints to mass production are overcome, are tissue-cultured or "clonal" palms, which provide "true copies" of high-yielding DxP palms.

An oil palm nursery must have an uninterrupted supply of clean water and topsoil which is both well-structured and sufficiently deep to accommodate three rounds of on-site bag-filling. Approximately 35 ha can grow enough seedlings over a three-year period to plant a 5,000-ha plantation. Prenursery seedlings must be watered daily. Whenever rainfall is less than 10 mm per day, irrigation is required, and the system must be capable of uniformly applying 6.5 mm water per day.

Prenursery seedlings in the four-leaf stage of development (10 to 14 weeks after planting) are usually transplanted to the main nursery after their gradual adjustment to full sunlight and a rigid selection process. During culling, seedlings that have grassy, crinkled, twisted, or rolled leaves are discarded.

Weeds growing in the polybags must be carefully pulled out. Herbicides should not be used. Numerous insects (ants, armyworms, bagworms, aphids, thrips, mites, grasshoppers, and mealybugs) and vertebrates (rats, squirrels, porcupines, wild boar, and monkeys) are pests in oil palm nurseries and must be carefully identified before control measures are implemented.

After eight months in the nursery, normal healthy plants should be 0.8–1 m in height and display five to eight functional leaves.

The proper approach to oil palm development begins with the establishment of leguminous cover plants, immediately following land clearing. They help prevent soil erosion and surface run-off, improve soil structure and palm root development, increase the response to mineral fertilizer in later years, and reduce the danger of micronutrient deficiencies. Leguminous cover plants also help prevent outbreaks of Oryctes beetles, which nest in exposed decomposing vegetation. Both phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are needed to maximize the leguminous cover plants' symbiotic nitrogen-fixation potential of approximately 200 kg nitrogen/ha/yr, and are applied to most soils at 115 to 300 kg phosphorus oxide/ha and 35 to 60 kg potassium oxide/ha. Young palms are severely set back where grasses are allowed to dominate the inter-row vegetation, particularly on poor soils where the correction of nutrient deficiencies is difficult and costly.

Crop nutrient

Oil palm Elaeis guinnensis

Nutrient uptake is low during the first year but increases steeply between year one and year three (when harvesting commences) and stabilizes around years five to six. Early applications of fertilizer, better planting material, and more rigid culling have led to a dramatic increase in early yields in the third to sixth years from time of planting. In regions without a significant drop in rainfall, yields of over 25 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches per hectare have been achieved in the second year of harvesting.

Nitrogen deficiency is usually associated with conditions of water-logging, heavy weed infestation, and topsoil erosion. Symptoms are a general paling and stiffening of the pinnae, which lose their glossy lustre. Extended deficiency will reduce the number of effective fruit bunches produced, as well as the bunch size.

Phosphorus-deficient leaves do not show specific symptoms, but frond length, bunch size, and trunk diameter are all reduced.

Potassium deficiency is very common and is the major yield constraint in sandy or peaty soils. The most frequent symptom is "confluent orange spotting". Pale green spots appear on the pinnae of older leaves; as the deficiency intensifies, the spots turn orange or reddish-orange and desiccation sets in, starting from the tips and outer margins of the pinnae. Other symptoms are "orange blotch" and "midcrown yellowing". In soils having a low water-holding capacity (sands and peats), potassium deficiency can lead to a rapid, premature desiccation of fronds.

Copper deficiency is common on deep peat soils and occurs also on very sandy soils. It appears initially as whitish-yellow mottling of younger fronds. As the deficiency intensifies, yellow, mottled, interveinal stripes appear, and rusty, brown spots develop on the distal ends of leaflets. Affected fronds and leaflets are stunted and leaflets dry up. On sandy soils, palms recover rapidly after a basal application of 50 grams of copper sulphate. On peat soils, lasting correction of copper deficiency is difficult, as applied copper sulphate is rendered unavailable. A promising method of correcting copper deficiency on peat soil is to mix copper sulphate with clay soil and to form tennis-ball sized "copper mudballs" that are placed around the palm to provide a slow-release source of available copper.

Healthy, well selected seedlings are necessary for early and sustained high yield. In most cases, granular multinutrient compound fertilizers are the preferred nutrient source for seedlings in the nursery. Where subsoil is used to fill the polybags, extra dressings of Kieserite may be required (10-15 g every six to eight weeks). Where compound fertilizers are not available, equivalent quantities of straight materials should be used.

To maintain good fertilizer response and high yields in older palms, selective thinning is often necessary.

Cross-breeding

This section requires expansion with: Cross-breeding E. guineensis with E. oleifera should be included. (September 2012)

Unlike other relatives, oil palms do not produce offshoots; propagation is by sowing the seeds.

Several varieties and forms of Elaeis guineensis have been selected that have different characteristics. These include:

E. guineensis fo. dura
E. guineensis var. pisifera
E, guineensis fo. tenera

Before the Second World War, selection work had started in the Deli dura population in Malaya. Pollen was imported from Africa, and DxT and DxP crosses were made. Segregation of fruit forms in crosses made in the 1950s was often incorrect. In the absence of a good marker gene, there was no way of knowing whether control of pollination was adequate.

After the work of Beirnaert and Vanderweyen (1941), it became feasible to monitor the efficacy of controlled pollination. From 1963 until the introduction of the palm-pollinating weevil Elaeidobius kamerunicus in 1982, contamination in Malaysia's commercial plantings was generally low. Thrips, the main pollinating agent at that time, apparently rarely gained access to bagged female inflorescences. However, E. kamerunicus is much more persistent, and after it was introduced, Deli dura contamination^{[clarification needed]} became a significant problem. This problem apparently persisted for much of the 1980s, but in a 1991 comparison of seed sources, contamination had been reduced to below 2%, indicating control had been restored.

A 1992 study at a trial plot in Banting, Selangor, revealed the "yield of Deli dura oil palms after four generations of selection was 60% greater than that of the unselected base population. Crossing the dura and pisifera to give the thin-shelled tenera fruit type improved partitioning of dry matter within the fruit, giving a 30% increase in oil yield at the expense of shell, without changing total dry matter production."

Disease

Basal stem rot (BSR), caused by the fungus Ganoderma, is the most serious disease of oil palm in Malaysia and Indonesia. Previously, research on basal stem rot was hampered by the failure to artificially infect oil palms with the fungus. Although Ganoderma had been associated with BSR, proof of its pathogenicity to satisfy Koch's postulate was only achieved in the early 1990s by inoculating oil palm seedling roots or by using rubber wood blocks. A reliable and quick technique was developed for testing the pathogenicity of the fungus by inoculating oil palm germinated seeds.

This fatal disease can lead to losses as much as 80% after repeated planting cycles. Ganoderma produces enzymes that degrade the infected xylem, thus causing serious problems to the distribution of water and other nutrients to the top of the palm. Ganoderma infection is well defined by its lesion in the stem. The cross-section of infected palm stem shows that the lesion appears as a light brown area of rotting tissue with a distinctive, irregularly shaped, darker band at the borders of this area. The infected tissue become as an ashen-grey powdery and if the palm remains standing, the infected trunk rapidly become hollow.

In a 2007 study in Portugal, scientists suggested control of the fungus on oil palms would benefit from further consideration of the process as one of white rot. Ganoderma is an extraordinary organism capable exclusively of degrading lignin to carbon dioxide and water; celluloses are then available as nutrients for the fungus. It is necessary to consider this mode of attack as a white rot involving lignin biodegradation, for integrated control. The existing literature does not report this area and appears to be concerned particularly with the mode of spread and molecular biology of Ganoderma. The white rot perception opens up new fields in breeding/selecting for resistant cultivars of oil palms with high lignin content, ensuring the conditions for lignin decomposition are reduced, and simply sealing damaged oil palms to stop decay. The spread likely is by spores rather than roots. The knowledge gained can be employed in the rapid degradation of oil palm waste on the plantation floor by inoculating suitable fungi, and/or treating the waste more appropriately (e.g. chipping and spreading over the floor rather than windrowing).

Endophytic bacteria are organisms inhabiting plant organs that at some time in their life cycles can colonize the internal plant tissues without causing apparent harm to the host. Introducing endophytic bacteria to the roots to control plant disease is to manipulate the indigenous bacterial communities of the roots in a manner, which leads to enhanced suppression of soil-borne pathogens. The use of endophytic bacteria should thus be preferred to other biological control agents, as they are internal colonizers, with better ability to compete within the vascular systems, limiting Ganoderma for both nutrients and space during its proliferation. Two bacterial isolates, Burkholderia cepacia(B3) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa(P3) were selected for evaluation in the glasshouse for their efficacy in enhancing growth and subsequent suppression of the spread of BSR in oil palm seedlings.

Little leaf syndrome has not been fully explained, but has often been confused with boron deficiency. The growing point is damaged, sometimes by Oryctes beetles. Small, distorted leaves resembling a boron deficiency emerge. This is often followed by secondary pathogenic infections in the spear that can lead to spear rot and palm death.

History

African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)

Elaeis guineensis originated in Guinea, Africa and was first illustrated by Nicholaas Jacquin in 1763.

Oil palms were introduced to Java by the Dutch in 1848,and to Malaysia (then the British colony of Malaya) in 1910 by Scotsman William Sime and English banker Henry Darby. The species of palm tree Elaeis guineensis was taken to Malaysia from Eastern Nigeria in 1961. As noted it originally grew in West Africa. The southern coast of Nigeria was originally called the Palm oil coast by the first Europeans who arrived there and traded in the commodity. This area was later renamed the Bight of Biafra.

In traditional African medicine different parts of the plant are used as laxative and diuretic, as a poison antidote, as a cure for gonorrhea, menorrhagia, and bronchitis, to treat headaches and rheumatism, to promote healing of fresh wounds and treat skin infections.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the first plantations were mostly established and operated by British plantation owners, such as Sime Darby and Boustead, and remained listed in London until the Malaysian government engineered their "Malaysianisation" throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is the world's biggest oil palm planter, with planted area close to 900,000 hectares in Malaysia and Indonesia. Felda was formed on July 1, 1956 when the Land Development Act came into force with the main aim of eradicating poverty. Settlers were each allocated 10 acres of land (about 4 hectares) planted either with oil palm or rubber, and given 20 years to pay off the debt for the land.

After Malaysia achieved independence in 1957, the government focused on value-added of rubber planting, boosting exports, and alleviating poverty through land schemes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the government encouraged planting of other crops, to cushion the economy when world prices of tin and rubber plunged. Rubber estates gave way to oil palm plantations. In 1961, Felda's first oil palm settlement opened, with 3.75 km² of land. As of 2000, 6855.2 km² (approximately 76%) of the land under Felda's programmes were devoted to oil palms. By 2008, Felda's resettlement broadened to 112,635 families, who work on 8533.13 km² of agriculture land throughout Malaysia. Oil palm planting took up 84% of Felda's plantation landbank.

FELDA's success led to the establishment of other development schemes to support the establishment of small-farmer oil palm cultivation. The Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA) was established in 1966 and the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (SALCRA) was formed in 1976. The primary objective of these organizations is to assist in the development of rural communities and reduce poverty through the cultivation of high yielding crops such as palm oil.

As of November 2011, SALCRA had developed 18 estates totalling approximately 51,000 hectares. That year the organization shared dividends with 16,374 landowners participating in the program.

Palm oil production

Fruit of the oil palm

Oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil, an edible oil) and the kernel (palm kernel oil, used in foods and for soap manufacture). For every 100 kg of fruit bunches, typically 22 kg of palm oil and 1.6 kg of palm kernel oil can be extracted.

The high oil yield of oil palms (as high as 7,250 liters per hectare per year) has made it a common cooking ingredient in Southeast Asia and the tropical belt of Africa. Its increasing use in the commercial food industry in other parts of the world is buoyed by its cheaper pricing, the high oxidative stability of the refined product,and high levels of natural antioxidants.

The oil palm originated in West Africa, but has since been planted successfully in tropical regions within 20 degrees of the equator. In the Republic of the Congo, or Congo Brazzaville, precisely in the Northern part, not far from Ouesso, local people produce this oil by hand. They harvest the fruit, boil it to let the water evaporate, then press what is left to collect the reddish-orange-colored oil.

In 1995, Malaysia was the world's largest producer, with a 51% of world share, but since 2007, Indonesia has been the world's largest producer, supplying approximately 50% of world palm oil volume.

Worldwide palm oil production for season 2011/2012 was 50.3 million metric tons, increasing to 52.3 million tons for 2012/13. In 2010/2011, total production of palm kernels was 12.6 million tonnes.

The Urhobo people of Nigeria use the extract to make Amiedi soup.

Oil palm research

Key scientific journals publishing on oil palms and related topics include:^[31]

Social and environmental impacts

The social and environmental impacts of oil palm cultivation is a highly controversial topic.Oil palm is a valuable economic crop and provides a major source of employment. It allows many small landholders to participate in the cash economy and often results in the upgrade of the infrastructure (schools, roads, telecommunications) within that area.^{[citation needed]} However, there are cases where native customary lands have been appropriated by oil palm plantations without any form of consultation or compensation, leading to social conflict between the plantations and local residents. In some cases, oil palm plantations are dependent on imported labour or illegal immigrants, with some concerns about the employment conditions and social impacts of these practices.

Biodiversity loss (including the potential extinction of charismatic species) is one of the most serious negative effects of oil palm cultivation. Large areas of already threatened tropical rainforest are often cleared to make way for palm oil plantations, especially in Southeast Asia, where enforcement of forest protection laws is lacking. In some states where oil palm is established, lax enforcement of environmental legislation leads to encroachment of plantations into protected areas,encroachment into riparian strips, open burning of plantation wastes,^{[citation needed]} and release of palm mill pollutants such as palm oil mill effluent (POME) in the environment.Some of these states have recognised the need for increased environmental protection, resulting in more environment-friendly practices.Among those approaches is anaerobic treatment of POME, which can be a good source for biogas (methane) production and electricity generation. Anaerobic treatment of POME has been practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia. Like most wastewater sludge, anaerobic treatment of POME results in dominance of Methanosaeta concilii. It plays an important role in methane production from acetate, and the optimum condition for its growth should be considered to harvest biogas as renewable fuel.

Demand for palm oil has increased in recent years due to its use as a biofuel, but recognition that this increases the environmental impact of cultivation, as well as causing a food vs fuel issue, has forced some developed nations to reconsider their policies on biofuel to improve standards and ensure sustainability.However, critics point out that even companies signed up to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil continue to engage in environmentally damaging practices and that using palm oil as biofuel is perverse because it encourages the conversion of natural habitats such as forests and peatlands, releasing large quantities of greenhouse gases.

Carbon balance

Oil palm production has been documented as a cause of substantial and often irreversible damage to the natural environment. Its impacts include deforestation, habitat loss of critically endangered species, and a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

The pollution is exacerbated because many rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia lie atop peat bogs that store great quantities of carbon, which are released when the forests are cut down and the bogs are drained to make way for the plantations.

Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, claim the deforestation caused by making way for oil palm plantations is far more damaging for the climate than the benefits gained by switching to biofuel. Fresh land clearances, especially in Borneo, are contentious for their environmental impact. Despite thousands of square kilometres of land standing unplanted in Indonesia, tropical hardwood forests are being cleared for palm oil plantations. Furthermore, as the remaining unprotected lowland forest dwindles, developers are looking to plant peat swamp land, using drainage that begins an oxidation process of the peat which can release 5,000 to 10,000 years worth of stored carbon. Drained peat is also at very high risk of forest fire. There is a clear record of fire being used to clear vegetation for oil palm development in Indonesia, where in recent years drought and man-made clearances have led to massive uncontrolled forest fires, covering parts of Southeast Asia in haze and leading to an international crisis with Malaysia. These fires have been blamed on a government with little ability to enforce its own laws, while impoverished small farmers and large plantation owners illegally burn and clear forests and peat lands to develop the land rather than reap the environmental benefits it could offer.

Many of the major companies in the vegetable oil economy participate in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which is trying to address this problem. For example, in 2008, Unilever, a member of the group, committed to use only oil palm oil which is certified as sustainable, by ensuring the large companies and smallholders that supply it convert to sustainable production by 2015.

Meanwhile, much of the recent investment in new palm plantations for biofuel has been funded through carbon credit projects through the Clean Development Mechanism; however, the reputational risk associated with the unsustainable palm plantations in Indonesia has now made many funds wary of such investment.

Palm biomass as fuel

Some scientists and companies are going beyond using just the oil, and are proposing to convert fronds, empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shells harvested from oil palm plantations into renewable electricity, cellulosic ethanol, biogas, biohydrogen and bioplastic. Thus, by using both the biomass from the plantation as well as the processing residues from palm oil production (fibers, kernel shells, palm oil mill effluent), bioenergy from palm plantations can have an effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of these production techniques have been registered as projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.

By using palm biomass to generate renewable energy, fuels and biodegradable products, both the energy balance and the greenhouse gas emissions balance for palm biodiesel is improved. For every tonne of palm oil produced from fresh fruit bunches, a farmer harvests around 6 tonnes of waste palm fronds, 1 tonne of palm trunks, 5 tonnes of empty fruit bunches, 1 tonne of press fiber (from the mesocarp of the fruit), half a tonne of palm kernel endocarp, 250 kg of palm kernel press cake, and 100 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent.^{[citation needed]} Some oil palm plantations incinerate biomass to generate power for palm oil mills. Some other oil palm plantations yield large amount of biomass that can be recycled into medium density fibreboards and light furniture.In efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientists treat palm oil mill effluent to extract biogas. After purification, biogas can substitute for natural gas for use at factories. Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent, practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia, results in domination of Methanosaeta concilii. It plays an important role in methane production from acetate and the optimum condition for its growth should be considered to harvest biogas as renewable fuel.

Unfortunately, the production of palm oil has detrimental effects on the environment and is not considered to be a sustainable biofuel. The deforestation occurring throughout Malaysia and Indonesia as a result of the growing demand for this plant has made scarce natural habitats for orangutans and other rainforest dwellers. More carbon is released during the life cycle of a palm oil plant to its use as a biofuel than is emitted by the same volume of fossil fuels.^[65]

Malayan folkculture

Since the days when the 'guineesis' was first introduced by the British, Indian laborers were brought in to work the estates. There, Hindu beliefs mixed with the local Malay culture and started the usage of palm seeds by traditional healers suffixed with tok 'bomoh' or pawang in the local language. Every bunch of palm fruit usually bears a single 'illustrious' seed which looks like a shiny black pearl called sbatmi in Tamil and shakti in Malay. These are used as accessories by the bomoh and pawang in the mixed ritual for peace with nature as these are believed to contain mystical healing properties, and those wearing them are blessed by nature.^{[citation needed]}

Modern usage has seen more common people keeping these as charm or fashion items to feel at peace, owing to their use by celebrities. All palm seeds contain acid; these sbatmi are no different and should be handled with care. Sbatmi lost some popularity when it was used in a grisly ritual by Mona Fandey in 1993.^{[citation needed]}