Over half a century ago, Nigeria was a world leader in oil palm production, but its status has since changed due to neglect of the sector and extreme weather events
On a bright Tuesday morning in May, Fidelis Ekpo, a farmer, sat on a wooden chair, attending to a small heap of palm fruits. With a metallic rod in his right hand, he beat one thorny stalk after the other to extract their fleshy fruits. Less than 1000 metres away, a woman waited for the fruits at the local grinding mill, where they would be steamed in the final oil extraction process.
As Mr Ekpo hit the bunches with his rod, the fermented palm fruits flew in different directions.
"This is not how it used to be in the past," the farmer recalled, rubbing sweat droplets from his face with the back of his hands.
"The weather really affected our production this year. About three to four years ago, everywhere was filled up because of the friendly weather condition then. But the weather pattern has changed, so we don't have good yields as we used to."
Popularly known as "Bush Bishop or Ete oil" --a name he earned from his industry in palm cultivation and production of palm oil--Mr Ekpo, like other farmers in Ikot Afaha community of Abak Local Government in Akwa Ibom State, is facing fluctuating weather conditions among other challenges affecting palm oil production in Nigeria.
Ikot Afaha is located along Abak -Ikot Abasi road. The agrarian community, like many others across the 33 local government areas of Akwa Ibom State, is known for palm oil and palm kernel production.
Largely subsistent farmers, Ikot Afaha people grow oil palm, vegetables, and cassava in addition to local palm oil extraction, tapping and brewing alcoholic beverages (kaikai) and wine from raffia palms.
Most of the dwellers who spoke with this newspaper said palm oil production has declined in the last decade due to extreme weather events and because most farmers lack access to soft loans, planting materials and other necessary inputs.
Ekeobong Johnson, an elder of the Ikot Afaha village, explained that production declined massively during the rainy season.
The farmer believes the weather affects production because they still depend primarily on wild varieties of palm trees. He added that there is a need to replace the old palm with improved varieties that can withstand harsh weather conditions and bear fruits year-round. Some farmers also observed that yields decline with heavy rainfall but improve with moderate rain.
A study on the effect of weather parameters on oil palm production revealed that the distribution of rainfall affects the growth and development of palm trees and, in turn, affects palm oil production.
"We experienced just a short harmattan season last year, and that is what is affecting us now," Mr Ekpo said. Due to the fluctuating weather, he lamented that the most they can harvest from about 50 square metres of land (with good breeds) are about 60 to 70 heads of fresh fruit bunches (FFB).
"The weather is not really friendly for the production of palm fruits," he said.
Weather fluctuations
Within the past decades, Nigeria's climate has been changing rapidly, and the impact is evident on crop production across the country's different regions.
Amidst increasing temperatures, varying rainfall patterns, flooding, drought, desertification and land degradation disrupting the country's food systems and livelihoods, extreme weather events have also affected Nigeria's freshwater resources and loss of biodiversity in the country's tropical region.
Data from Nigeria's Meteorological Agency (NiMet) shows that the duration and intensity of rainfall have increased, causing flooding across Nigeria as witnessed last year between August and October.
Insert infographics showing rainfall patterns in Nigeria within the last ten years
In its seasonal climate predictions report this year, NiMet also predicted that rainfall variation and intensity would increase in some states in Nigeria. Within this period, it noted that precipitation in coastal and southern parts of the country would come with extreme weather events, and rising sea levels may also exacerbate flooding and submersion of coastal lands across this region.
During a visit to Akwa Ibom and Edo states - arguably two of Nigeria's key oil palm-producing states - PREMIUM TIMES gathered that excessive rainfall and weather fluctuations as currently being experienced also harm the FFB, reduce plantation quality, disrupt harvest activity and cause flooding.
Moreover, the yield of oil palm is affected by the duration of the annual dry season, and as rainfall increases, oil palm FFB production is predicted to increase at a very slow rate.
Comfort Akpan, a small-scale palm oil processor and farmer at Abak LGA, narrated that the lack of adequate and accessible empowerment models for women farmers and local palm oil processors makes it difficult for them to produce more palm oil.
"Our production drops during the rainy season, but if we get the right empowerment (financial support) and processing machines (selector), we would be encouraged to produce more because we have the capacity," Ms Akpan said as she selected milled palm fruits with her hands.
The farmer lamented that the crude way of processing palm fruits by women is too strenuous, inefficient and unsustainable.
On his part, Otobong Ambrose, Abak-Usong Atai community deputy youth leader, explained that since the beginning of rainfall this year, harvesting FFB has been difficult.
"We can harvest up to 20 tonnes during the dry season, but we cannot cut up to 20 tonnes during the rainy season. We can do three tonnes because of the rain," he said.
This slow pace of production due to weather fluctuations coupled with myriads of other lurking challenges, ranging from poor input supply to insufficient investment in the country's agriculture sector, continue to affect Nigeria's production capacity and the country's potential to dominate the oil palm market globally.
Edo State
The climate of the tropical forests and a unique arrangement of oil palm trees in plantations welcome visitors to the Okomu-Udo axis of Benin City in Edo State. The smell of moist earth, humid air and the sight of carefully pruned vines (rattan) atop several thousands of unbranched stems (oil palm trees) were also welcoming.
"The weather pattern in this region has generally been negative, especially over the past five years," Billy Ghansa, Okomu oil plantation agriculture coordinator, said.
Over the past five years, he said production has dropped, which he attributed primarily to a change in the rainfall pattern.
Mr Ghansah, who has been working around the location since 2009, emphasised that the changes in the weather pattern are not very significant but have a bigger impact on their production due to the timing.
"Oil palm needs a lot of water, but we are not getting enough of it. The rainfall pattern has changed. We have fewer days of rainfall, and the bulk of it is very intense, but when it is intense, you don't get what you need. It would help if you had more than fewer days of rainfall," he said in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES.
Over the past decade, the official said they also noticed an increase in the variety and population of pests in their plantation due to the changing weather patterns. He explained that in an oil palm plantation, pests are common, and they don't aim to eliminate them but reduce their populations.
However, these days, he said the pests' population and varieties have increased significantly.
"We have pests, which in a lot of places will not be regarded as pests, which are coming up now, and we have issues with them. The immediate impact is that we are spending more money on pest control. But the long-term effect is the fact that they would have an impact on yield because they would be attacking the plants," Mr Ghansah said.
Lamentation
Apart from the fluctuating rainfall affecting production, oil palm farmers also expressed frustrations about losses from attacks on farmlands by pastoralists.
"Over the past seven years, the level of insecurity has heightened in our communities due to Fulani pastoralist infiltration," Imafidon Pius, leader of Ebho Omigie multipurpose cooperative, said.
The farmer, who leads a cluster of oil palm farmers, said herders trespass their farmlands and set the surrounding bushes on fire.
"Last year, most of our farms were burnt. At the peak of production last year, I produced 10 tonnes of palm oil, but I can't have such this year because of the burning of our plantation," Mr Pius said.
He added that his palm oil mill was also burnt, forcing them to sell their products directly to Okomu oil company. He said between June and October, production was good because of adequate rainfall. However, the situation changes by late November through December, he said.
The farmers blamed Nigeria's decline in palm oil production on a lack of government presence across the value chain.
"The government is not encouraging individual farmers. It is self-effort that is making us produce the palm oil we are seeing today," Mr Pius said.
Another farmer, Aina Ilere, said a lack of workers and harvesters contributes to low production.
Agbofure Pius, who produces palm oil at Ovia Southwest in Edo State, also complained about the lack of labourers, noting that an individual cannot easily carry oil palm production.
Historical Background
Nigeria was considered the world leader in the palm oil market in the 1950s and 1960s when agricultural products like palm oil and cocoa were the key commodities generating foreign exchange for the country. However, this is not the case, as the sector suffers neglect.
Within the last 10 years, Nigeria's palm oil production has increased, but the impact is yet to be felt in the country's local consumption demand and global market ranking order.
In the 1950s, Nigeria generated about 43 per cent of the world's total production. The production satisfied local demand, and the excess was exported. But available data shows that Nigeria has become a net importer of palm oil.
Between 2009 and 2022, production increased significantly, data published by the United State Department of Agriculture showed. The highest growth was registered in 2010 by roughly 14 per cent over the 850,000 metric tonnes in the preceding year. Production continued the trend from 2014 (940,000 MT) onwards.
In 2015, production rose to 955, 000 MT and further to 990,000 MT in 2016, 1.03 million MT in 2017, and 1.13 million and 1.14 million MT in 2018 and 2019, respectively. According to the data, in 2021 and 2022, Nigeria's palm oil production averaged 1.4 million metric tonnes and 1.3 million MT in 2020.
Despite the improvement in production, Nigeria has fallen from its position as world leader to the fifth largest producer, a spot it has stood for more than five years now. The nation now trails Columbia (1.8 million MT), Thailand (3.3 million MT), Malaysia (19.2 million MT) and Indonesia (45.5 million MT) in production.
Based on this data, Nigeria now contributes less than two per cent (1.4 million metric tonnes) to the global production of approximately 74.08 million MT.
With over 200 million people, Nigeria consumes roughly three million MT of fats and oils annually. According to an analysis by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), an international auditing firm, palm oil accounted for approximately 45 per cent of total consumption in 2018. Nigeria remains the largest consumer of palm oil in Africa, with 1.4 million MT consumed in 2018, according to data published by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Domestic consumption increased to 1.6 million MT in 2019 and 1.7 million MT in 2020 and 2021. Similarly, consumption rose to 1.8 million MT last year. The increase in consumption in the 10 preceding years shows oil palm is one of the major crops in the country, with a growing domestic demand.
Nonetheless, only a negligible percentage of palm oil consumed is used by households. Most are for industrial use.
According to the USDA, in 2018, Nigeria imported about 401, 000 MT I palm oil. This was 23.4 per cent higher than the volume imported in the preceding year. The data analytic firm said it represented an overall decrease in product imports.
For instance, in both 2013 and 2014, the country imported over 500,000 metric tonnes of palm oil. China and Malaysia were the main origins of palm oil imports in Nigeria as of the fourth quarter of 2021.
Analysts believe that within the last decade, there has been incremental planting of oil palm in the country with far greater awareness of opportunities in the sector.
But this is yet to meet local demand.
"In effect, we are not producing enough to meet our national needs. We bandy statistics around, which sometimes don't help the situation or give a fair picture of the sector," says Mr Ikuenobe.
"Some homestead production does not get into the national statistics we compute, and overall production has increased with increasing plantings."
NIFOR Reacts
Reacting to the concerns raised by the farmers across the states visited, Celestine Ikuenobe, Executive Director of the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), said the challenges in the sector are well known.
He said first among these challenges is access to land and cheap credit. However, as an agency, he said they provide improved seeds and know-how.
"We already do this," the official said, adding that their seeds are readily available to producers.
But he claimed that there are 'unscrupulous people' in the industry who market dirty unimproved seeds to farmers.
"They now pass these seeds as imported, and where they are modest, they pass them as our seeds," Mr Ikuenobe said, urging farmers not to fall victim.
Regarding the claim that Indonesia and Malaysia got oil palm seedlings from Nigeria in the 1950s but have overtaken Nigeria in palm oil production, the NIFOR boss said he didn't want to compare Nigeria with Malaysia and Indonesia.
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"We are different countries with different cultures and land tenure systems. Also, the models of development of the industry are different. So it is often unfair but understandable that we always seem too fascinated in making reference to Indonesia and Malaysia," he said.
Mr Ikuenobe explained that Malaysia has about six million hectares of oil palm. In comparison, Nigeria has less than one million hectares under improved oil palm planting, and that the rest of what Nigeria has is in "uncultivated semi-natural groves".
He noted further that much of the areas covering Indonesia and Malaysia's oil palm are in large estates, while less than 300,000 hectares are under large industrial plantations in Nigeria.
However, the official said the rest of the about one million hectares of cultivated plantings in Nigeria are under small to medium holdings, which in most cases are unorganised and some of them are planted with materials of questionable sources.
"We should stop this old story we love to tell that Malaysia came to take their seeds from here. That story is not quite true," the NIFOR boss said. He added that the Malaysian oil palm industry started at the beginning of the last century and is slightly over a century old, while NIFOR is just 84 years old."
"NIFOR still has the seeds. The Malaysians didn't take all the seeds away to the extent that there are no more seeds to plant here in Nigeria," he said, adding that the lessons that can be learnt from the Malaysians are that with dedication and focus, Nigeria can grow the industry rather than relying on uncultivated groves.
Ongoing efforts
Some farmers and government officials are now adopting strategies to upscale production in Nigeria.
For instance, Mr Ekpo told PREMIUM TIMES that due to the weather situation, he is replacing the aged palm trees in his plantation with drought-tolerant breeds from Okomu.
On his part, Mr Ghansah said the Nigerians need to devote more land to growing oil palm.
"There is a need to strategically reposition NIFOR to produce materials which would be climate resilient. There are now materials that can handle prolonged dry seasons better," he said.
Similarly, Mr Ikuenobe noted that to mitigate the effects of climate change, farmers should plant improved varieties and adopt practices such as soil moisture conservation, climate-smart phytosanitary practices and soil fertility management.
He urged farmers to depend less on government support but rather seek innovative funding windows.
Also, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the acting permanent secretary of Edo State agriculture and food security ministry, Erhunmwonsere Sunday, spoke about the need for partnership.
"If we must guarantee safe production of food crops and export commodities, we need to partner with parties to help us implement some of these climate-smart projects, and that is what the state is doing," he said.
Churchill Oboh, team lead of Edo State oil palm programme independent implementation office, said the state government had provided over 2000 hectares of land for oil palm farmers to upscale production and curb shortages.
"We are looking at sustainable production by making lands available to farmers," he said.
This report is produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.
