Nigeria risks losing access to the European market for its palm oil exports if governments and farmers fail to address deforestation and other unsustainable practices in the oil palm sector, Solidaridad Nigeria has warned.
The organisation said the European Union Deforestation Regulation could make compliance with sustainable production standards increasingly important for Nigerian producers seeking access to the European market.
Programme Manager of Solidaridad Nigeria, Ernest Ita, disclosed this in Uyo on at the weekend while presenting the organisation’s Sustainable Management Plan (SMP) developed to guide oil palm production in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Enugu and Kogi states.
Ita said the plan was designed to help farmers increase productivity from existing plantations instead of expanding farms through forest clearance, while also addressing environmental, economic and social challenges affecting the sector.
He said assessments carried out by the organisation had identified ageing plantations, poor planting materials, inappropriate use of fertilisers and agrochemicals, deforestation and insecure land tenure among the factors limiting the productivity and sustainability of smallholder oil palm farming.
According to him, Solidaridad’s intervention had reached more than 10,000 smallholder farmers and nearly 5,000 palm oil processors, while about 7,000 farmers had received harvesting tools and approximately 600 farmer groups had been supported with improved planting materials.
Ita said the application of recommended Best Management Practices had already produced significant productivity gains among some farmers, with yields reportedly increasing from a baseline of about 2.7 tonnes per hectare annually to more than six tonnes.
He explained that the organisation was seeking government adoption of the SMP because, as a not-for-profit organisation, Solidaridad lacked the statutory authority to enforce its provisions.
“We are hoping that government, at the local government level and at the state level, will adopt this Sustainable Management Plan into their agricultural strategy so that our oil palm farmers, and even palm oil processors, can produce sustainably,” he said.
Ita said the framework could be adopted or adapted into government agricultural policies and local bylaws, adding that its implementation would provide a common direction for farmers, processors and other stakeholders in the oil palm value chain.
He said the plan also addressed financing difficulties through Village Savings and Loans Associations, while Solidaridad was supporting farmers to access improved planting materials from the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research and develop alternative income streams through seedling production.
Project Coordinator, Samson Shaibu, described the SMP as “the practical framework of oil palm development,” anchored on environmental stewardship, social inclusion, economic development and policy coordination.
Shaibu said smallholder farmers account for between 80 and 82 per cent of oil palm production, making their productivity critical to the growth of the industry.
He said many existing plantations were dominated by wild and ageing palms, stressing that replacing such trees with improved planting materials and intensifying production on existing farms could raise output without encouraging unnecessary expansion into forests.
Ita added that the framework promotes the participation of women and young people in the sector and encourages the use of Free, Prior and Informed Consent before development activities are undertaken in communities.
He said the SMP was developed through consultations with community, local government and state-level stakeholders before being validated, expressing hope that the four project states would adopt it and that other oil palm-producing states would eventually follow suit.
