The National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN) says Nigeria will be self-sufficient and meet its global market share of oil palm by 2050.
The National President of NPPAN, Mr. Alphonsus Inyang, told journalists in Abuja on Saturday on the sidelines of National Oil Palm Development Strategy validation meeting, that this target could be achieved through the effective implementation of the National Oil Palm Development Strategy.
Mr Inyang explained that with the guideline, the country’s current production capacity of 1.4metric tonnes to 1.5metric tonnes annually, would increase to nine metric tonnes or 10 metric tonnes between now and 2050.
Inyang, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Technical Working Group for the development of the National Oil Palm Development Strategy, emphasised that the feat would be achieved by empowering smallholder farmers to enhance production.
He disclosed that Nigeria intends to extend oil palm production to Taraba, Niger and Kogi States in northern Nigeria under the framework. According to him, leveraging on some northern states among other interventions is part of the ways to achieve the 2050 self-sufficiency and global market targets.
“Taraba with 69,000 square kilometers of land is well placed to cultivate oil palm trees than the whole southern part of the country. Taraba State has a longer sunshine than southern Nigeria; it also has water in some parts. So those are the things we are going to leverage. Niger State too has areas that can produce oil palm, Kogi also,” he said.
Inyang said the strategy was designed to reposition the country as a major player in the industry at the global level. Inyang explained that the framework would encapsulate the establishment of a National Oil Palm Council (NOPC), an Oil Palm Development Fund and a National Smallholders Development Fund.
According to him, Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) will be transitioned into a Nigerian Oil Palm Board to oversee research, development and innovation in the sector. Inyang frowned at the rating of the country as number five oil palm producing country globally. “We are number one palm oil producing country in Africa, number one importer, exporter and number one consumer.
“We produce more, we import more, we consume more and we export more than any other country in Africa,” he said
He attributed poor investment and growth in the sector over the years to the absence of a clear governance architecture and structure.
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