Oil palm refinery, others coming up in C/River

Apart from cocoa plantation which the state is negotiating to be established in Ikom Local Government Area, the heartland of cocoa production, palm oil refinery and cassava plants are also coming on stream in the state soon. It is the belief of stakeholders that once these are established, they will also definitely impact on the […]

Apart from cocoa plantation which the state is negotiating to be established in Ikom Local Government Area, the heartland of cocoa production, palm oil refinery and cassava plants are also coming on stream in the state soon.
It is the belief of stakeholders that once these are established, they will also definitely impact on the country’s economy especially going by the extensive investments by the state government and international investors.  
Experts also say that when the oil palm refinery, for instance, is established, Cross River will be one of the few states in the country to boast of such, and that even the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) may have to compete with it. As it is, the state government seems determined to make a mark in the oil palm business.
When Governor LiyelImoke came up with a decision, insisting that all plantations be privatised, there was hue and cry, And not understanding much about the import of that decision, fortnight ago the cocoa farmers and stakeholders in the state, took to the streets challenging the government’s decision even at the court level. But they are going to be the better for it, said the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, James Aniyom.
In the oil palm sector, for instance, where the state was practising ‘transition agriculture’, according to Aniyom, they leased out part of their vast plantations to politicians to manage but never got what they initially bargained for, adding that “this is why we have turned to the real professionals.”
Findings indicate that with the privatisation of the plantations, competent, professional farmers and big time investors have entered Cross River State. One of such is the Ibia and Calaro oil palm plantations in Akamkpa Local Government Area of the state where a multinational Malaysian oil palm firm, Wilmar International Limited, with vast outposts in some African countries have invested a lot.
Observers and stakeholders say that their coming is tremendously changing the face of palm oil plantation and business in the state.
Aniyom confirmed that the firm has already acquired 22 existing plantations and has been given additional 50,000 hectares of land to cultivate oil palm plantations using modern methodologies and expertise.
He observed in an interview that: “This will certainly change the face of oil palm business in the state as they have also, in addition, established a training school to train our youth and local oil palm farmers.
  Aniyom also said the company is in the process of establishing an oil palm refinery to produce and refine palm oil for commercial and export purposes, adding that their expertise and the training school, if put in a workable synergy, it will be easy for them to achieve high oil palm yield and needed transfer of technology that will further improve the lot of farmers in the state.
Still on training and imparting modern farm practises as a way of ensuring that the face of agriculture in the state changes for the better, there is Songhai Farm Initiative. It is an advanced farming technique that covers all areas of farming with full utilisation of waste materials from the products for further agricultural purposes. The elaborate farm complex is established in Abi Local Government Area of the state.
“Clearly, with what we are doing, soon we will be giving out high yield seedlings to our farmers. We also have a pact with the federal government whereby we will be giving out about 40,000 high yield seedlings. We will also be giving out improved cocoa seedlings. This is because of the heavy concentration of efforts to boost agricultural production and make it gainfully attractive,” he said.
The General Manager of Wilmar, Mr Lee KokSeung, said the firm which arrived Cross River State two years ago, will spend only 99 years to bolster palm oil production in the state.
On why they fell the older oil palm trees in the various oil palm plantations in the state, he said: “The plantations were all aged, if I am not mistaken some of the palms there were planted in 1952, that is almost 60 years ago. You may know that in oil palm cultivation, normally, our experience has shown that the economic and commercial life of oil palm is around 25 years. In that regard, what we had in those plantations were way past what can be considered beneficial,” he said.
He stated that in their places, they have cultivated new breeds of oil palm which are considered high breeding and can guarantee higher palm oil production.
Seung said in four years, they expect to harvest the new oil palm breeds depending on the soil type, adding that they have the expertise and technology to sustain their long-term investment and to recover as much as possible given the conducive atmosphere.
Although he affirmed that the state government has made the atmosphere to be conducive, yet he insisted that for them to establish a refinery, the planting acreage has to move from 26,000 to 50,000 hectares minimum.
Another key agric investor in the state is DANSA, a subsidiary of Dangote Group that is into pineapple production for export. Already, they have cultivated over 250 hectares of MB2 pineapple which is a high yielding variety of the fruit.
For cassava plant, it is to be a 450 metric tonnes a day plant and arrangement is almost concluded to have it sited in Iyamitet in Obubra Local Government Area of the state.
“Once it becomes operational, there will be no cassava left in Cross River. And when there is high demand for it, our farmers will be forced to cultivate bigger farms. This is why already we have cleared 3,000 hectares for it. We are to do 6,000 in collaboration with the federal government,” Aniyom also said.