The Niger Delta’s nine states account for about 75 percent of palm oil production in Nigeria and 80 percent of the production from the region comes from smallholder farmers. The proliferation of adulterated seedlings however threatens the livelihoods of oil palm farmers and is stifling the growth of the sector in Nigeria. PIND Half Hour, a new magazine program on radio and TV produced under the PIND’s Journalism Grant for Peacebuilding and Economic Development in the Niger Delta by the Edo State Broadcasting Services (ESBS) in one of its episodes alerted farmers in Edo State and environs on how to avoid the pitfalls associated with planting poor quality oil palm seedlings.
“A lot of farmers are going in a wrong direction with oil palm farming” says Lawal Samuel, an experienced oil palm nursery operator based in Ondo State. He worked with the Okitipupa Oil Palm PLC for 11years ago before venturing into private oil palm nursey business six years ago. He identified the poor quality oil palm seedlings as one of the factors preventing investments and growth in the sector. “But now we want to correct that aspect, we want people to go for quality seedlings that will give good quality and quantity of palm oil”, he said with optimism.
Lawal was a guest at the interview segment of PIND Half Hour produced and anchored by Flora Bossey a PIND journalism grantee where he promoted high yielding palm oil seeds. The episode focused on best management practices I oil palm farming. According to him “A seedling that has not grown well in the nursery will make a poor oil palm. It’s not just having a plantation that matters, but quality plantations. We know the good quality seed, so we are trying to promote them for local farmers, for middle men and even those that want to do it in a large quantity. Dura has 30% mensocarp of oil, while Tenera contains about 69 to 90 percent mensocarp of oil. So you can’t compare the quality”.
Mesocarp is the middle layer of the pericarp of a fruit. Three varieties of Oil palm are available in Nigeria; namely Dura, Pisifera and Tenera. The preferred variety among palm oil farmers in Nigeria is the hybrid Tenera which is a crossbreed of the Dura (female) and the Pisifera (male). Tenera seedlings are produced by the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) and commonly referred to as the extension work seeds. In terms of comparison, the fruit of the Tenera variety contains 25% oil, by weight, and the Dura variety 18%, so the same amount of Tenera can yield 30% more oil than the equivalent fruit of the Dura.
A training session for oil palm farmers on Best Management Practices by solidaridad and Jubali, PIND agro partners on the importance of quality oil palm seeds
Sadly, hitherto to the information provided by Lawal on PIND Half hour, hundreds of oil palm farmers in the Niger Delta hitherto did not have this useful information and they have plantations of full of Dura variety. On the impact of information on high yielding oil palm seedlings provided on the program Lawal said that “since when I was interviewed on PIND Half Hour last month (January 2018), I have had a lot of people showing interest and calling. I have adviced those who have gotten the wrong ones that they should be felling. It is better to fall and replant the Tenera plant than to manage the Dura where you will just be wasting your money unnecessary”.
It takes an expert to know which group an oil palm seed belong and many farmers were not aware of the different types that are available. Lawal is a member of the National Association of Oil Palm Farmers and have participated in PIND Foundation’s training and business linkage activities. Following his appearance on the program, he has received over 50 telephone calls from interested members of the public seeking information on oil palm farming and has been able to assist up 10 oil palm farms in different states in the Niger Delta. “Before the program we received less calls, but immediately after the program, – and don’t forget that the program (PIND Half Hour) was aired within the Niger Delta State, so therefore a lot of calls where coming in from different angles”.
Palm oil is currently the most consumed edible oil in the world with Malaysia and Indonesia being the top major producers. Globally, farming of oil palm has continually evolved, rising from 1.2 million MT in 1964 to 73.3 million MT in 2018 based on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at a meeting with the governors of the South-south and South-east states, in April 2019 spoke about the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) by the CBN which includes the repositioning of the oil palm industry to be a major catalyst for economic diversification. “If we had kept pace with our peers in supporting improved cultivation of palm oil, at the current global market price of $600 per tonne, and an assumed production level of 16m tonnes, Nigeria could have generated close to $10 billion worth of foreign exchange for the country. This analysis does not take into consideration the amount of jobs that could have been created in our rural communities from large scale smallholder developments”, he said.
Lawal believes that the government is not doing enough to support oil palm farmers in Nigeria and that gave some private operators the opportunity to sell adulterated seedlings to farmers. He said, “the major challenge of government is promising and failing and because of this we have allot of private operator giving out adulterated seedlings, and that is one of our major challenges”.
‘Knowledge is power’, hundreds of farmers in the Niger Delta have been informed through the PIND Half Hour program about the importance of high yielding oil palms as only good quality, certified seeds can produce good palms that can give large yields.
The PIND Journalism Grant for Peacebuilding and Economic Development in the Niger Delta is one of PIND’s dynamic approaches for reinforcing the competencies of journalists to provide information that will empower different stakeholders including policy makers and transform the lives of poor people living in the Niger Delta.
