Experts have revealed that over three million tonnes of palm oil is required annually to meet Nigeria’s demands.
The stakeholders lamented that the country has less than 800,000 hectares under-cultivated, and as a result the country only produces 1.4 million tonnes, which is not enough.
They made this known during a policy dialogue on the National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate Oil Palm Smallholder (NI-SCOPS).
The NI-SCOPS is a programme being implemented by Solidaridad and IDH – the Sustainable Trade Initiative, funded by the Dutch government.
NI-SCOPS jurisdictions in Nigeria are AkwaIbom, CrossRiver, Edo, Enugu, Kogi and Ondo states.
Solidaridad Programme Manager for oil palm in Nigeria, Kene Onukwube, expressed concern that the oil palm economy has been relegated to the background.
Onukwube noted that the policy dialogue was aimed at evoking economic and ecological resilience in the oil palm sector.
He noted that Solidaridad and IDH will offer technical assistance to farming communities and workers and support policy makers and authorities with improving natural resource management and restoration efforts.
”We would advise the government to be able to understand the investment direction for the country in regional oil palm markets and global oil palm markets.”
