Firm unveils plan to boost oil palm production in Akwa Ibom

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A development organisation, Solidaridad Nigeria, has unveiled a sustainable management plan aimed at increasing oil palm productivity and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Akwa Ibom State.

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The plan was unveiled on Friday in Uyo during a stakeholders’ workshop organised under the National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders project.

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Speaking at the event, the Programme Manager of Solidaridad Nigeria, Ernest Ita, said the plan would serve as a framework for farmers and government authorities to promote sustainable oil palm production.

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He said the framework focused on economic, social and environmental sustainability, with policy and inclusion as cross-cutting issues.

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He said, “Solidaridad in Nigeria has developed a sustainable management plan, which is a framework and strategy in order to ensure that oil palm production in the four states: Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Enugu, and Kogi where we implement the NISCOPs project, applies. This is to ensure that oil palm production is done sustainably.”

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He explained that the plan was developed after assessments of oil palm production in 24 states, including climate vulnerability assessments in eight states and a gender analysis in four states.

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According to him, the assessments identified practices among smallholder farmers that contribute to environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions, while women and young people also faced challenges accessing land.

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Ita said the organisation was promoting better farming practices to increase yields on existing farms rather than encouraging farmers to clear more forests.

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“Farmers believe that until you clear forest, you cannot have better yield. So we came up with Best Management Practices, BMP, to train farmers to intensify yield within their existing farms rather than expansion,” he said.

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He identified aged planting materials, land disputes, deforestation, improper fertiliser application, continuous cropping and excessive use of agrochemicals among the challenges affecting the sector.

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He also cited fragmentation among farmers and weak coordination of government policies as constraints to sustainable oil palm production.

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Ita said the plan was developed through consultations with communities, local governments and state authorities, with the aim of producing targets that could be incorporated into agricultural policies.

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He urged state and local governments to adopt the framework, warning that failure to meet emerging international environmental standards could affect Nigeria’s access to export markets.

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He cited the European Union Deforestation Regulation, which restricts the import of commodities linked to deforestation, as one of the regulations that could affect Nigeria’s oil palm exports.

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Giving an account of the organisation’s activities, Ita said Solidaridad had reached more than 10,000 smallholder oil palm farmers and nearly 5,000 artisanal millers.

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He added that the organisation had distributed harvesting tools to 7,000 farmers and supported 600 farmer groups with improved seedlings from the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research.

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“In Akwa Ibom alone, we have supported up to 120 farmer groups of 25 members each. Baseline yield was 2.7 tonnes per hectare per year, but those who applied BMP now do over six tonnes,” he said.

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Ita said lack of access to finance and improved technology, poor planting materials and weak policy implementation remained major challenges.

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He said the organisation had introduced village savings and loans associations and was linking registered farmer groups with financial institutions to improve access to finance.

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Also speaking, the Project Coordinator, Samson Shaibu, described the plan as a framework built around environmental stewardship, social inclusion, economic development and governance.

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