FG Should Give Grants To Local Palm Oil Producers Than Granting Loans To Political Farmers - Boki Farmer Prays

Following the reports from stakeholders’ meeting on Palm Oil Value Chain by Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele with some Governors from the South-South and South-East in Abuja on Monday, a Boki farmer Mr Tambe Agbor says FG should consider giving grants to local Palm oil farmers than political farmers.

According to Tambe Agbor, “My prayers is for federal government to give grants to some of us who are still interested in nurturing and producing palm oil from the local palms that we inherited from our parents, instead of granting loans to the so called political farmers who remain at the state capital in Calabar to claim that they are palm oil farmers. Even the agric palm which they claim to own can never produce good quality oil palm as compared to what we produced from our local palms’’.

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In was disclosed in the meeting that Nigeria now imports $500m worth of palm oil annually, a situation that places the country fifth in palm oil production in the world, trailing Malaysia, Indonesia and two other countries on the peg.

CBN Governor, Emefiele had described the development as a sad fact that the country, despite its large arable land in the South-South and South East, was still importing palm oil.

From the Central Bank report on Monday, compared to 2017 report on the importation of the commodity, findings from Sunday Leadership shows a record decline in the country’s palm oil production.

The situation has been described by experts as yet another negative indication on economic diversification. Unfortunately the government has done nothing to prevent local palm trees from going on extinction even as they account for over 50 percent of local consumption.

Tambe Agbor, when asked what he wants the government to do so that the production of local palm can have a boost, Tambe appealed to the federal government to give grant to them if it is serious with the business of increasing the production of oil palm from local palms, so as to take the pressure off the sleeve of federal government who is spending much on importation to meet with local consumption.