Oil Palm Commercial Farming

OIL PALM Elaeis guineensis is specie of palm commonly called African oil palm. It is the principal source of palm oil. It is native to west and southwest Africa, Mature palms are single-stemmed and grow up to 20 m tall. The leaves are pinnate and reach 3-5 m long. A young palm produces about 30 leaves a year. Established palms over 10 years produce about 20 leaves a year. The flowers are produced in dense clusters; each individual flower is small, with three sepals and three petals.

The palm fruit takes 5–6 months to mature from pollination to maturity. Although the new re-engineered palm does not take this much. It is reddish, about the size of a large plum, and grows in large bunches. Each fruit is made up of an oily, fleshy outer layer (the pericarp), with a single seed (the palm kernel), also rich in oil. When ripe, each bunch of fruit weighs between 5 and 30 kg (11 and 66 lb) depending on the age of the palm tree.

 

PLANTING

For each hectare of oil palm, which is harvested year-round, the annual production averages 25 tonnes of fruit yielding 5,000 kg of palm oil and 750 kg of seed kernels yielding 500 kg of high-quality palm kernel oil, as well as 600 kg of kernel meal. Kernel meal is processed for use as livestock feed.

All modern, commercial planting material consists of tenera palms or DxP hybrids, which are obtained by crossing thick shelled dura with shell-less pisifera. Although common commercial germinated seed is as thick-shelled as the dura mother palm, the resulting palm will produce thin-shelled tenera fruit. An alternative to germinated seed, once constraints to mass production are overcome, are tissue-cultured or “clonal” palms, which provide “true copies” of high-yielding DxP palms.

An oil palm nursery must have an uninterrupted supply of clean water and topsoil which is both well-structured and sufficiently deep to accommodate three rounds of on-site bag-filling. About 35 hectares can grow enough seedlings over a three-year period to plant a 5,000-hactare plantation. Prenursery seedlings must be watered daily. Whenever rainfall is less than 10 mm per day, irrigation is required, and the system must be capable of uniformly applying 6.5 mm water per day.

Prenursery seedlings in the four-leaf stage of development (10 to 14 weeks after planting) are usually transplanted to the main nursery after their gradual adjustment to full sunlight and a rigid selection process. During culling, seedlings that have grassy, crinkled, twisted, or rolled leaves are discarded. Weeds growing in the polybags must be carefully pulled out. Herbicides should not be used. Numerous insects (ants, armyworms, bagworms, aphids, thrips, mites, grasshoppers, and mealybugs) and vertebrates (rats, squirrels, porcupines, wild boar, and monkeys) are pests in oil-palm nurseries and must be carefully identified before control measures are implemented.

After eight months in the nursery, normal healthy plants should be 0.8–1 m in height and display five to eight functional leaves. Although in Nigeria it is advisable to buy from NIFOR the ones that are ready to be planted to save yourself from stress and unnecessary trial and error.

The proper approach to oil palm development begins with the establishment of leguminous cover plants, immediately following land clearing. They help prevent soil erosion and surface run-off, improve soil structure and palm root development, increase the response to mineral fertilizer in later years, and reduce the danger of micronutrient deficiencies. Leguminous cover plants also help prevent outbreaks of Oryctes beetles, which nest in exposed decomposing vegetation. Both phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are needed to maximize the leguminous cover plants’ symbiotic nitrogen-fixation potential of around 200 kg nitrogen/ha/yr, and are applied to most soils at 115 to 300 kg phosphorus oxide/ha and 35 to 60 kg potassium oxide/ha. Young palms are severely set back where grasses are allowed to dominate the inter-row vegetation, particularly on poor soils where the correction of nutrient deficiencies is difficult and costly.

 

PALM OIL PRODUCTION

Oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil, edible oil) and from the kernel (palm kernel oil, used in foods and for soap manufacture). For every 100 kg of fruit bunches, typically 22 kg of palm oil and 1.6 kg of palm kernel oil can be extracted.

Worldwide palm oil production for was 52.3 million tons for 2012/13 and total production of palm kernels was 12.6 million tonnes

 

THE NEW PALM OIL HYBRID

SuperGene – Most Productive Oil Palm Hybrid

• Earlier harvest (22 to 24 months) compared 36 to 48 months for Tenera standard seedling. First year harvest 7 to 8 tonnes of palm oil per hectare
• Significant higher yields for each and every year throughout the 25year lifespan.
• Life span average yield of 44 tons
• Dwarf Palm – annual growth rate of 25 to 35 cm compared to 60 cm of tenera. Extends the economic cropping cycle beyond the normal 25-year lifecycle.
• Shorter Tree … Easy to reach speeds up harvesting … Harvesting cost is reduced.
• Tree diameter and circumference is bigger supports more branches & more fruits, this reduces gravity effect allowing easy transfer of nutrients from soil to fruit. This allows the tree to thrive better in dry season. Wider gap between leaves stem results in an increase in photosynthesis for more robust growth
• More Disease Resistant
• Higher Oil-to-Bunch Ratio more than 25% bigger seed, thinner shell and smaller kernel
• More Female Flowers, ratio is 2 times higher than the normal species.
• Longer Tree Lifecycle 30 years for fruit bearing as well as income generating period is longer

“SuperGene” Introgressed Hybrid Oil Palm

Average yield over 25 years lifespan – 44 tons /hectare or over 10 tonnes of Oil based on Oil Extraction Rate of 23%.Yields can be enhanced with the use of high performance liquid plant fertilizers and high yield hybrids.

 

PALM BIOMASS AS FUEL

There is already new technology to convert palm fronds ie empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shells harvested from oil palm plantations into renewable electricity, cellulosic ethanol, biogas, bio-hydrogen and bioplastic. Thus, by using both the biomass from the plantation as well as the processing residues from palm oil production (fibers, kernel shells, palm oil mill effluent), bioenergy from palm plantations can have an effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What this means is that oil palm tree is versatile and that none of its parts is useless.

The major inputs for commercial SORGHUM farming are; LAND, IMPROVED GRAIN, TRAINING, FERTILISER, DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL, FINANCE and MARKET.

 

LAND

OIL PALM   grows in almost all types of soils. For optimal production well-drained, deep fertile loamy to loam-clay soil, are the most suitable for cultivation. This aids good roots development and helps the roots to access enough nitrogen necessary for fast. Spacing for  palms is usually 7[10] meters by 7[10] meters in a triangle. In this way you can plant 143 oil palms per hectare; this is the best density. Procuring Land for such commercial farming has to be done by professionals who have the eagle eye to decode the soil texture without much examination. It is also easier to source for land for agriculture through professionals because they have extensive network and can arrange Land for you in short notice and in a cost effective manner. There is little need to purchase land for farming in large scale from the beginning as this will tie down available capital, thus it is advisable to lease and subsequently pay for the land from the proceed of the farm. BUSINESS ADVISORY NETWORK is a guru in this regard and will help you arrange choice farm land at the best rate, all you have to do is to talk to us.

 

TRAINING

We will guide you on best planting approach, spacing, fertilizer type, how to source fertilizer, fertilizer application. Weed control, Crops you may intercrop with OIL PALM, the effects of intercropping on OIL PALM yield, Storage and processing.

 

FINANCE

The central bank of Nigeria has a lot of incentives/ credits for commercial farmers at a reduced interest rate of 9% per annum. Most of these are organized by the central bank of Nigeria although accessed through the commercial bank. BAN will guide you on how to source credit under any of these credits listed below;

 

Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) The Fund guarantees credit facilities extended to farmers by banks up to 75% of the amount in default net of any security realized. The Fund is managed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, through this guarantee it is easy For commercial banks to loan to farmers not fearing

Agricultural Credit Support Scheme (ACSS) ACSS funds are disbursed to farmers and agro-allied entrepreneurs at a single-digit interest rate of 8.0 percent. At the commencement of the project support, banks will grant loans to qualified applicants at 14.0 per cent interest rate. Applicants who pay back their facilities on schedule are to enjoy a rebate of 6.0 per cent, thus reducing the effective rate of interest to be paid by farmers to 8.0 per cent.

Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) This credit scheme is specifically targeted to finance the country’s agricultural value chain (production, processing, storage and marketing). The maximum interest rate to the borrower under the scheme shall not exceed 9 per cent, inclusive of all charges.

Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending ( NIRSAL) Risk is the single-most important factor that prevents banks from lending to agriculture. To change banks’ perception that agriculture is a high-risk sector, NIRSAL has a USD300 Million Risk-Sharing Facility that it uses to share their losses on agricultural loans through Credit Risk Guarantees. NIRSAL shares risk with banks ranging from 30% to 75% of face value depending on segment.

This also includes a guarantee fee of 1% per annum on outstanding protected principal and interest. Up to 40% of interest cost rebated to select value chain participants every 90 days if loan remains in good standing (no partial or full default). All crops, livestock and related supportive economic activity across the value chain are supported by this facility.

The news is that government is willing and doing everything to encourage farming in Nigeria because that’s where the country straight lies. Nigeria is endowed with arable land and fresh water resources when viewed as a whole with approximately 61 million hectares of the land cultivable while the total renewable water resources is about 280 km3/year; which include river Niger, river Benue, lake Chad, Osun river, Hadejia River, Bonny river and a host of others.

 

FARM EQUIPMENT

BAN will also help in securing farming equipment. This may be achieved through the federal and state government partnership with the support of any of the credit schemes. Through this farm equipment can be acquired or leased.

 

MARKET

Demand for OIL PALM is high both locally and internationally. OIL PALM is used in production of soaps, detergents, greases, lubricants, candles, animal feed and many other things. A farmer may decide to add value and export some of the oil palm derivable but the local demand is enormous as can be seen from the fact that Nigeria still imports 40% of its palm oil needs.

 

SECURITY

Security of the farm is of utmost importance, thus adequate security must be put in place to eliminate/ reduce pilferage in the farm.

 

 OIL PALM VALUE CHAIN

We will not only guide you on OIL PALM farming. We will introduce you to OIL PALM business value chain depending on your interest. Even though this requires huge investment, the return is enormous and the market potential is also huge. If you are desirous of farming with minimal discomfort and also wants to stay out of other losses that might result due to lack of planning talk to us at BAN.