In a bid to revitalize Nigeria’s oil palm sector, the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN) has teamed up with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to attract a €300 million investment.
This strategic collaboration aims to enhance production capacity, create jobs, and drive sustainable growth in the industry.
According to nairametrics.com, this initiative, focused on palm wine production, palm trunk processing, plantation replanting, and palm oil milling, is expected to drive economic growth and job creation.
Amb. Alphonsus Inyang, the National President of NPPAN in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja disclosed that the investment, spanning 2024 to 2026, will primarily benefit Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Lagos States.
“The commitment is in palm wine production and packaging, utilization of palm trunks for furniture, replanting of old plantations, and installation of mills of up to 30,000 hectares,” Inyang stated.
Job creation and technological advancements
He further explained that the palm wine business alone is projected to create over 100,000 new opportunities for tappers, while the palm trunk processing sector is expected to generate more than 200,000 jobs.
“The palm wine business alone is to create over 100,000 new businesses for tappers while the trunk business will create over 200,000 jobs in the two states,” he said.
- The investment also includes utilizing palm trunks for building materials and furniture tailored for European and American markets.
- According to Inyang, these markets have a high demand for products made from spent palm trunks.
- Beyond traditional uses, the collaboration aims to repurpose palm oil mill effluents, sludge, and waste into industrial products such as biogas.
“We have companies who intend to buy palm oil mill effluents and use them to produce industrial products like biogas for export and local market.
They want to buy them from any mill and use such to produce industrial products like biogas and export them to Europe and America and even for the local markets, ” Inyang said.
Replanting depleted plantations
In a move to ensure sustainability, a Malaysian company within the collaboration will lead the replanting of depleted plantations.
The replanting will utilize hybrid seeds capable of yielding over 40 tonnes of palm fruit bunches per hectare.
What you should know
The National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN) has called on states and local governments to stop allowing foreign investors to participate in the primary production of oil palm in Nigeria.
Amb. Alphonsus Inyang, NPPAN’s National President, criticized such practices as harmful to national development, arguing that they reduce Nigerians to mere laborers while foreign investors profit.
“Foreign investors will pay peanuts to our people as plantation attendants while they declare billions as profit every year. We do not want them in the upstream; they should focus on processing and value addition,” he said.
Inyang urged the government to adopt an out-grower system, such as Indonesia’s “Core and Plasma” model, to empower local farmers and ensure wealth remains within Nigerian communities.
