RE: Is there really no other way?

Salam Hajiya, I shared your writing on palm oil with members  of our online group and below is the response from one of them. He said the (mechanized) technology has been in the East for more than a decade, especially in Aba. Re: Is there really no other way? My Brother DoobaThis is an interesting […]

Salam Hajiya, I shared your writing on palm oil with members  of our online group and below is the response from one of them. He said the (mechanized) technology has been in the East for more than a decade, especially in Aba.

Re: Is there really no other way?

My Brother Dooba
This is an interesting article especially with the dwindling nature of the agricultural sector in Nigeria. It is indeed very important to point out the challenges facing this sector if we must make headway. The photo editor of Trust newspapers (Afolabi Sotunde) deserves commendation for discovering this method of palm oil processing at this age. However, he would have improved on the information conveyed by the picture, if he had traveled to other rural parts of Niger State to ascertain if this is a widely-used method. I do not think, in my opinion that what the editor showed is a challenge to the agricultural sector.
It is no doubt true that in Nigeria, you can have a yam but have no knife with which to peel it. I think the scenario the editor conveyed may be the case of a woman who has palm trees but does not have the resources to acquire the modern equipment to process its fruits. In my opinion, it would have been better to solicit for assistance for the woman from the agric ministry rather than publishing that picture and succeeding in discouraging some families from eating palm oil. I may not have come from Niger State but I’m pretty convinced that there is mechanized system of palm oil production there. To create such a negative impression of palm oil processing in Nigeria, with that picture, is more like a CNN reportage of poor and uncivilized Africa.
I have witnessed the matching of palm fruits with legs. It is an old traditional system of palm oil production. However, it changed a long time ago. There are mechanized equipment to process palm oil in Nigeria at the present. Some are expensive, while others are affordable (though they may still be too expensive for the rural woman). There are also other semi-traditional methods like using an electric powered grater to process the palm fruits or better still, the bamboo method. These methods are also very cheap. But among the big-time producers, palm oil processing at present is digitalized. In some places in the East, you just need to press a switch from pounding to pressing and to separation.
In my opinion, the major challenge facing the Agricultural sector is making loans accessible to farmers in order to acquire the necessary equipment for farming. We cannot continue in the old system of farming (Just like the woman in the photo) while technological advancement is visibly surrounding us.  Improving farming technologies is also very important as that will attract young people, no matter their academic background into Agriculture. I have a friend here who is a top boss in K & K. He holds a Doctoral degree in Information Technology. Their company owns a lot of palm tree farms in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and other Asian countries.
In the course of our discussion, he told me that they have succeeded in cloning palm trees such that they harvest in two and half years. In addition, they have a digitalized tractor programmed to till the soil, plant the seed and close the spot at regulated distance. The hard labour, with these mechanisms is reduced and anybody can be a farmer. They only drive within the farm with their Jeep to inspect the work of the digitalized tractor.
Again, the palm oil market in Nigeria is very poor. I don’t know the price at present. Manually, when you put together the labour of harvesting the fruits, conveying to your destination, separating the fruits from the bunch, cooking and processing and the price at which it is sold, it is just like working like a donkey and eating like an ant. The government needs to create a market just like the stock exchange to take away the labour from farmers. This way, private companies or entrepreneurs can harvest the palm fruits and pay the owners their worth in cash.
Isn’t it a pity that a nation which once exported palm oil cannot boast of producing sufficient palm oil for its citizens at the present? With the focus of every leader on crude oil and no attempt to diversify the economy, I do pray that God will continue to make those oil wells flourish. Because should there be any drop in production, then and only then will everyone know the folly of our leaders’ actions.  
Meanwhile it is worthwhile to note that palm oil production in Nigeria has been mechanized for more than a decade now. The technology is popular in Aba because many of the local governments around Aba have a lot of palm tree plantations. Once you ask about these mechanized implements in Aba, even a commercial motorcyclist will direct you to where they are sold. The good thing about it is that the equipment are of different classes (for large scale oil milling, for small scale oil milling and even for subsistence milling).
The bamboo method I mentioned earlier is also good but you may need a man to help the woman pound it. It comes with wooden mortal made from Ugba tree (English name forgotten) and wooden pestles. After pounding the fruits, it is transferred into a sack bag and pressed with bamboo trees using rope with a basin underneath to collect the oil. Women in our communities also pound it. But everything has been made so easy now, with the mechanized variants. So to those who have decided to back out please come back and eat our palm oil. It is very good and supports our vision a lot with its abundance of vitamins.
It will be a great step in the right direction, if both state and federal governments can encourage genuine farmers by giving them loans and providing them with better farm market. This way, the agricultural sector will regain its lost pride and glory once again.
Ezerie Henry Ezechi, Civil Engineering Department, University of Technology Petronas Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31705 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia.