The Oil And Coconut Palms Solution Agenda Of Anambra State

It is an established fact that Governor Charles Chukwuma  Soludo, CFR, is determined to re-enact the days of agricultural prosperity under former Eastern Region Premier Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara. Of course many of the younger ones, especially the recent generation, may not understand the Michael Okpara revolution that transformed the Eastern Region into one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

At the time of the Okpara phenomenon, crude oil was still being prospected and nobody had any inkling that the oil boom would happen, even though it later turned out to be more like oil doom. Doom in the sense that it gradually killed the lofty agricultural initiatives that were already yielding robust fruits.

The institutional milestones recorded and solid infrastructure built by the M.I. Okpara administration in the Eastern Region at that time were essentially from agricultural produce, majorly palm produce.

It’s this glorious era that Soludo wants to bring back. He has crunched the numbers and come to the veritable conclusion that, as it was in the beginning when there was no crude oil, so shall it be now that crude oil is drying up. The requisite projections have been carefully done by Mr Governor to convince the doubting ‘Thomases’ in our midst that this is the fastest way to pull our people out of poverty.

Palm and coconut seedlings are currently being procured by Anambra State government and distributed free of charge to carefully selected people and groups that can nurture them to fruiting stage.

The gains are enormous. For starters, palm oil ranks one of the world’s most consumed vegetable oil. This underscores the need for the Anambra State Oil and Coconut Palms Agenda of 2023 because well over 60 percent of all packaged products found in supermarkets includes palm oil as the basic raw material.

It’s a well-known fact that the global palm oil market is valued at U$D63.86 billion.

The development of the oil palm industry in Malaysia is one of the largest and most successful poverty eradication projects in the world. This remarkably crashed poverty indices from 50 percent in the 1960s to less than 5 percent today, and directly employs over 570,000 people, with additional 290,000 downstream.

At the latest count, there are over 30 high value by-products that could be captured through the refining of palm oil.

On the other hand, the Coconut Oil market is currently valued at U$D3.44 billion. It is one of the fastest growing agricultural sector products with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7 percent. Experts attribute the rapid growth of this sector to the increase in awareness of consumers regarding the various health benefits of coconut oil.

The chosen species of the palms are quite prolific. The Malaysian hybrid coconut, for example, has a fruiting period of three years after planting. The expected yield per tree is 100+ nuts per year after maturity. At the average market price of N400 per nut, the expected revenue translates to N40,000 per tree in annual income.

The Tenera oil palm (Malaysian Hybrid) also has a fruiting period of three years after transplanting. A minimum of five trees would be given to each household. Each tree produces average of 40 fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per year at full maturity. When 40 FFB is multiplied by 5, it amounts to 200 FFB per household. It is remarkable that 100 FB yields one ton of crude palm oil. Thusly, 200 FFB is guaranteed to yield 2 tons of crude palm oil. At the current market price of N600,000 per ton of Crude Palm Oil, this translates to N1.2 Million per annum in revenue.

It is noteworthy that when fully implemented the Anambra Oil and Coconut Palm initiative will radically transform the economy of the State by directly impacting on the disposable household incomes of Ndi-Anambra.

The 2023 Palm Agenda is focused on liberating the most vulnerable population from abject poverty, thus bringing to fruition the APGA motto: “Onye Aghana Nwanne Ya.”

At the very least, 100,000 households are expected to benefit from this year’s initiative with each family receiving between 5 to 10 improved palm seedlings.

Indeed, the Solution is Here for a livable and prosperous homeland.

*SIR PAUL NWOSU*
Commissioner for Information
Anambra State