Daily Independent Online.
*
Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
DELTA: From crude oil to palm oil
By Tunke-Aye Bisina
Reporter,
Asaba
Delta State, today, is
unarguably the highest oil producing state in the country, and accordingly
contributes more to the national economy.
Like its sister oil
producing states, it has been denied the expected and accruable wealth, as
successive administrations in the country have held on to the oil wealth,
leaving the attendant social problems like youth unrest in the Niger Delta,
which has given the region a poor image even on the international scene.
Despite being denied
control of its resources, especially oil, which it has been agitating for, the
state has branched out into other sources of generating revenue. One of them is
an aggressive oil palm production scheme geared towards moving it away from
over-dependence on crude oil as a major revenue source.
According to the state
Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Wing Commander Peter
Biakpara (rtd), his ministry has fashioned the ‘Green Gold
Programme’ to encourage the cultivation of oil palm trees.
Biakpara explained
that a total of 1.6 million oil palm seedlings have been raised within the past
two years under the programme, with 42,000 of the number already distributed to
farmers in the state to plant 947 hectares (about the size of a standard
football pitch) of oil palm farms.
“The remaining
1.5 million seedlings are currently being sold to farmers in the current Delta
State Green Gold Programme, at a subsidised cost of N80 per oil palm seedling
unit at Abraka and Ejeme-Unor Oil Palm Nurseries,” he added.
This, he revealed, has
cost the state government the sum of N174.6 million so far, with the hope that
about 10,974 hectares of oil palm plantations would have been planted by
farmers with seedlings from the said nurseries.
Chairman of the
ministry’s committee on the sale of the seedlings, Professor Godini G.
Darah, told Daily Independent that the target of the state government is to
cultivate about five million oil palm seedlings by 2007.
The seedlings, he
said, were bought from the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) in
Edo State, noting that they were improved and high-yield varieties that would
be ready for harvest in three years from the date of planting.
“About 150 oil
palm seedlings go into one hectare. With about 500 trees, the cultivator will
be eligible to becoming an oil palm millionaire between 2007 and 2008,”
Darah said.
It is on record that
in the 1960s, Malaysia had to seek Nigeria’s technical assistance on oil
palm production. But, sadly today, it is the leading producer of oil palm in
the world, while Nigeria is ranked third even below Indonesia. Records
available to Daily Independent on major oil palm
producer nations have Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Colombia, Thailand, Papua
New Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo
in that order.
The government of
Malaysia was reported to have given massive support to the industry, making it
the main exporter of palm oil in the world. In the process, it displaced African
growers, who had allocated most of their oil palm production to domestic
consumption. But, Darah maintained that the state government was poised to
reverse the trend and restore Nigeria’s premier position in the
world’s oil palm industry.
Studies have shown
that oil palm is now the most competitive oil-bearing plant in the world. A
hectare of oil palm is said to have an average yield time higher than that of
soybean in terms of oil output. It is estimated that in the next few years,
palm oil could become the world’s main commodity of its kind.
Speaking on market for
the product, Darah informed that there were processing mills already waiting to
buy the yields from the farmers. Biakpara also confirmed this when he said that
the state government has leased oil palm estates at Nsukwa, Okhuo, Ewohimi,
Igueben, Obaretin, Igieduma, Cowan-Ajagbodudu, Ubalu-Uku and Akwukwu-Igbo. A
total of N93.573 million, he disclosed, had been paid in the past four years to
the state government from the lease.
According to Biakpara,
the state government was also embarking on an aggressive revival of cocoa
farming, rubber and coconut among other agricultural schemes.
“Cocoa farming
is being revived in collaboration with the Federal Government in the state. To
this effect, the ministry has raised 185,000 cocoa seedlings to farmers free to
plant 150 hectares of cocoa farms in the state,” he said.
He added that 200,000
cocoa seedlings have been raised for distribution to farmers free in the 2004
planting season to rehabilitate about 200 hectares of cocoa plantation.
On rubber, the
commissioner said: “A total of 40,000 budded tuber stumps were obtained
from the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) and distributed to 21
rubber farmers to plant 90 hectares of farm. The sum of N9,963,500 was expended
on this project.”
The Agriculture
Commissioner said the ministry has another programme, Live and Own A Farm
(LOAF), that centres around the farmer.
“Live and Own A
Farm (LOAF), as the name and acronym imply, will encourage all Deltans to make
a living from farming, whether on his own or any other means of livelihood.
“It is expected
that those already into farming business will use this opportunity to increase
their farm holdings by using new and improved methods of farming, increase
their yield/hectare and overall agricultural productivity,” Biakpara
said.
The ministry, he
stressed, hopes to achieve those objectives through assisting farmers to
acquire land; preparation and provision of farm inputs, such as planting
materials, brood stock and fertilisers at subsidised rates; provide soft loans
to farmers and render extension services to them.
“Deltans will be
mobilised and encouraged to own farms. The individual, secondary schools, and
farming organisations will all be encouraged to own farm,” he said.
The next four years,
he stressed, would see a revolution in agriculture. “We shall create the
needed atmosphere to encourage bounteous inflow of agricultural investment from
within and outside the state…Arrangements are already in place to partner
local large scale farmers of pineapple, cassava and fish to substantially
increase their output,” he said.
