The National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN) has started a major initiative to restore Anambra State and the South East geo political zone to the top of the global oil palm value chain. The move followed a partnership between Alpha Palm City Estate Development Ltd, a privately driven firm, and NPPAN. The company is an agro real estate development outfit that acquires estates, plants fast growing high yielding palm nursery seedlings, nurtures them and sells to agro investors.
Speaking on the development, the Anambra State Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof. Foster Ihejiofor said Governor Chukwuma Soludo is strongly interested in investing in the sector for maximum economic returns. He recalled that his visit to Malaysia in 2022 showed how a palm tree was officially turned into a national economic plant. According to him, “It was such that no one touches it without government approval.” He warned that anyone who torches palm trees in the state would be prosecuted.
Prof. Ihejiofor explained that palm trees were highly valued in Malaysia and no by product was ever allowed to waste. He said that a similar result could be achieved in Anambra with this bold synergy between NPPAN and Alpha Palm City. The Commissioner noted that palm plantation has become the backbone of the Malaysian economy and could serve the same purpose for Nigeria and Anambra. He stressed that Governor Soludo has shown high optimism in supporting serious investors to standardize operations and get access to processing machines if they form cooperatives.
He added that real benefits will begin to roll in once that structure is achieved. The Commissioner lamented that Nigeria, which once gave palm nuts to Malaysia, now imports about five hundred million dollars worth of palm oil from the same country every year. He also observed that more than 80 per cent of products on the shelves of typical Nigerian supermarkets are palm oil by products.
According to him, the state government has distributed over two million palm seedlings to more than 180,000 households in the last two years, in line with Governor Soludo’s vision for the sector. He stated that “Palm tree remains a very valuable economic tree that lifts families out of poverty.”
Mrs. Priceless Ani Emeka, an Executive of Alpha Palm City Estate, said the company is open to partnering with individuals and groups interested in agro estate development. She explained that they have land resources already planted with fast yielding nursery palm species and would nurture them for a period before investors take over. She encouraged local and international investors to seize the chance, especially under the popular “one family, twenty palms” promotion. She noted that payments have been structured in phases and installment options. The goal, she added, is to raise at least twenty million palm trees soon in the state.
The National Vice President (South East) of NPPAN, Dr. Lynda Onubogu, who inaugurated the new Anambra State executive led by Mrs. Ifeyinwa Onweluzo, said palm produce was once the main base and trademark of the Eastern Nigerian economy before it was neglected. She said, “The inauguration is a call to restore the palm produce business in the South East zone beginning with Anambra State.”
The National Secretary of ANPPAN, Kayode Olatola, noted that the association has existed since 1995, and that palm produce is found in commercial quantities in 29 states of the federation.
