By Francis Akinnodi

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National Palm Producers Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), have urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to further set aside a special fund of N200 billion for the development of the oil palm sector.

Ondo State chairman of the association, Segun Adetoye told The Hope that the fund was necessary under the existing Oil Palm Development Initiative.

He said the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should fund the production and distribution of at least 10 million sprouted nuts annually for distribution to smallholder farmers across the country.

Adetoye noted: “As an association, we have concrete plans to lead all families on an ambitious drive to plant 20 palm trees from 2022-2026. As a precursor, we are starting with the development of 10 million seedlings in 2022 for distribution to families.”

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Nigeria would face 700,000 tonnes palm oil deficit valued at N670.3 billion ($1.17 billion) this year as domestic and industrial demand is greater than supply.

Besides, consumers of the product would experience 57 per cent rise in price of crude palm oil from March, 2022, because of on-going war between Ukraine and Russia, which has pushed the price of the commodity upward.

Currently, importers source their palm oil from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to meet industrial and domestic demand.

Findings also revealed that the export price of crude palm oil from Thailand had gone up by 57.07 per cent from $723 per tonne in 2021 to $1,680 as at Friday last week. Nigeria has the capacity to produce 1.2 million tonnes or 70.5 per cent of her palm oil needs, while demand is 1.7 million tonnes.

It was learnt that due to inability to source adequate foreign exchange for the commodity, importers were only able to order 450,000 tonnes or 64.2 per cent of the short fall, valued at N423.3 billion ($756 million) for 2022.

Adetoye however, noted that despite the measures, the country took delivery of 240,000 metric tonnes of crude palm oil between January and December, 2020, from Malaysia out of the total 424,000 tonnes, while 450,000 tonnes were imported in 2021 by manufacturers.

However, a report by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) in 2021 revealed that Nigeria was planning to generate a total of $963 million yearly from one million tonnes of palm oil.

On investment funding, Adetoye explained that the recent investments indicated that Nigeria’s oil palm industry was a desirable place to invest, saying despite the one million tonnes in the supply gap, Nigeria could competitively supply the global market