By SuccessDigest
http://www.successdigestonline.com/blog/2015/04/did-you-know-you-could-have-an-oil-palm-farm-that-starts-yielding-in-2-years
As the headline above rightly says, the cultivation of oil palm is
amongst the several cash crops that were abandoned by our people in the
1970s when factories where springing up in the cities with the
discovering of oil.
It was reported that Malaysia, which is today the world’s second largest exporter of palm oil, with an annual production of 20 million tons, got its first seeds from Nigeria in the 1970s. They continued to work on their farms and expand their capacity, and now the crop is bringing billions of dollars as revenue to their country yearly. Regrettably, Nigeria now imports palm oil from Malaysia to meet the shortfall in local production annually.
From our investigation, the oil palm is a highly valuable and lucrative crop as no part of it is wasted after processing. It is a crop that always gives handsome profits to investors, but a lot of people, especially the youth think it takes too long to start yielding fruits that can be transformed to cash.
SuccessDigest spoke recently with two seasoned investors in this area of agriculture business; an oil palm farmer and a processor of oil palm kernels, and they both debunked this belief, and affirmed that in today’s agricultural practice, there are improved varieties of oil palm seeds that can start yielding in two years.
Mr. Jaiyeola Fisher, CEO, Teleola Farm and Food Enterprises, a cultivator of oil palm, and Mr. Oluwadamilare Ogunremi, MD/CEO, Recowage International Ltd, a processor of oil palm kernel, both from Ogun State, shared with SD what the oil palm Agric business entails and the numerous opportunities that people can derive from it.
What Does Oil Palm Cultivation Entails? Fisher says, “There are some things you need to put in place, among them are: you need to get a land depending on the size of farm you want to cultivate; you can start with one acre or an hundred acres of land. After getting a land, you need to prepare the land, in the sense that you need to stump the farm land if there are trees there so that it will be free from trees, stumps and probably weeds.
“Again, you need to get your seeds or seedlings for you to be able to cultivate – since you are going to plant from the scratch, you need to get your seeds, plant the seeds and when the seeds become seedlings, you then transplant.
“However, all of these require manpower and capital, as you need to get people who are going to till the ground for you, plant the seeds for you and those who will be responsible for weeding and making sure that they apply fertilizer and other insecticides with a view to making the farm free from insects. So, once they are able to manage the farm very well and you have the enough capital to start with, then you are good to go.”
Insinuations That It Takes Long To Get Result In Oil Palm Cultivation
While demystifying people’s fear, Fisher tries to explain that oil palm seed is what you get from your oil palm tree, which is the red type, while oil palm seedling is what you get when you have planted the seed, when it has germinated, sprouted, and it is growing.
“Now, someone who wants to go into oil palm cultivation must know that he is going into a long term investment, as it is not something you plant today and you get result tomorrow. In the next three years, you will need to continue to tender the oil palm plantation for you to be able to get result – before the oil palm will start fruiting. It all depends on the management given to the farm, if you manage it properly, it will start fruiting by three years.
“However, you cannot start harvesting until may be around five years – the reason being that, when you plant, the oil palm tree needs to get fattened for it to be able to carry the weight of the oil palm seeds. If you do not get a fattened tree, it will look so thin and will not produce well, if it produces, it will not be able to carry the weight of the seeds.
“In fact, in most cases, it may not even produce, so you need to get a fattened, well rounded tree for it to grow very well. Now, if it starts fruiting by the third year, depending on the owner of the farmland, you can leave the seeds on the tree without harvesting them, as it assists the tree to gain more size and as it grows, it gets bigger and bigger,” he says.
Also allaying the general fear, Oluwadamilare says, “Every business has its own season, even in agriculture, but in all seasons, if you are an expert at it, you will make profit in it – depending on the kind of approach you apply.
“Generally, in Palm kernel or oil palm processing, you don’t have to rely on the cultivation of palm tree. What we majorly do here is that we have a solid relationship with various foreign suppliers of palm kernel from countries like Togo, Ghana, Cote de’Ivoire, from far away Abidjan, among others.
“So, we don’t have to rely on a local production and supply alone – once we have a shortage of local production, we just switch over to our international partners. Taking a look at the sensitivity of the business itself, the cost of what it takes to be an oil palm grower and based on our relationship with foreign partners, we always have stock in our warehouse for oil palm production.
“The main reason most Nigerians farmers are shying away from this goldmine and not paying attention to oil palm plantation is because they think that palm trees take so many years to mature to the point of production, therefore they are not ready to wait. But that is based on total ignorance; according to research, there are varieties of palm tree that starts producing in just two years after planting.”
What Are The New Varieties Of Oil Palm Seed? Fisher says, “The traditional type we are used to is Tenera, but there are new varieties, as we have quite a number of them in Nigeria now that are coming up from our further research.
“Also, the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research is working very hard to get new varieties suitable to our environment and that will produce high yield. There are some varieties that start yielding by the 24th month or in less than two years and once they start yielding, they continue to produce.”
Oluwadamilare says, “Some kinds of varieties do not yield enough profit for we processors, but because we don’t depend majorly on local supply, what we do is that we discuss with all our foreign partners with a view of mixing the maximum profit seed with the ones that are not too good – 70 percent to 30 percent. Meanwhile, we certainly have about three different categories of oil palm seed or palm kernel nuts:
It was reported that Malaysia, which is today the world’s second largest exporter of palm oil, with an annual production of 20 million tons, got its first seeds from Nigeria in the 1970s. They continued to work on their farms and expand their capacity, and now the crop is bringing billions of dollars as revenue to their country yearly. Regrettably, Nigeria now imports palm oil from Malaysia to meet the shortfall in local production annually.
From our investigation, the oil palm is a highly valuable and lucrative crop as no part of it is wasted after processing. It is a crop that always gives handsome profits to investors, but a lot of people, especially the youth think it takes too long to start yielding fruits that can be transformed to cash.
SuccessDigest spoke recently with two seasoned investors in this area of agriculture business; an oil palm farmer and a processor of oil palm kernels, and they both debunked this belief, and affirmed that in today’s agricultural practice, there are improved varieties of oil palm seeds that can start yielding in two years.
Mr. Jaiyeola Fisher, CEO, Teleola Farm and Food Enterprises, a cultivator of oil palm, and Mr. Oluwadamilare Ogunremi, MD/CEO, Recowage International Ltd, a processor of oil palm kernel, both from Ogun State, shared with SD what the oil palm Agric business entails and the numerous opportunities that people can derive from it.
What Does Oil Palm Cultivation Entails? Fisher says, “There are some things you need to put in place, among them are: you need to get a land depending on the size of farm you want to cultivate; you can start with one acre or an hundred acres of land. After getting a land, you need to prepare the land, in the sense that you need to stump the farm land if there are trees there so that it will be free from trees, stumps and probably weeds.
“Again, you need to get your seeds or seedlings for you to be able to cultivate – since you are going to plant from the scratch, you need to get your seeds, plant the seeds and when the seeds become seedlings, you then transplant.
“However, all of these require manpower and capital, as you need to get people who are going to till the ground for you, plant the seeds for you and those who will be responsible for weeding and making sure that they apply fertilizer and other insecticides with a view to making the farm free from insects. So, once they are able to manage the farm very well and you have the enough capital to start with, then you are good to go.”
Insinuations That It Takes Long To Get Result In Oil Palm Cultivation
While demystifying people’s fear, Fisher tries to explain that oil palm seed is what you get from your oil palm tree, which is the red type, while oil palm seedling is what you get when you have planted the seed, when it has germinated, sprouted, and it is growing.
“Now, someone who wants to go into oil palm cultivation must know that he is going into a long term investment, as it is not something you plant today and you get result tomorrow. In the next three years, you will need to continue to tender the oil palm plantation for you to be able to get result – before the oil palm will start fruiting. It all depends on the management given to the farm, if you manage it properly, it will start fruiting by three years.
“However, you cannot start harvesting until may be around five years – the reason being that, when you plant, the oil palm tree needs to get fattened for it to be able to carry the weight of the oil palm seeds. If you do not get a fattened tree, it will look so thin and will not produce well, if it produces, it will not be able to carry the weight of the seeds.
“In fact, in most cases, it may not even produce, so you need to get a fattened, well rounded tree for it to grow very well. Now, if it starts fruiting by the third year, depending on the owner of the farmland, you can leave the seeds on the tree without harvesting them, as it assists the tree to gain more size and as it grows, it gets bigger and bigger,” he says.
Also allaying the general fear, Oluwadamilare says, “Every business has its own season, even in agriculture, but in all seasons, if you are an expert at it, you will make profit in it – depending on the kind of approach you apply.
“Generally, in Palm kernel or oil palm processing, you don’t have to rely on the cultivation of palm tree. What we majorly do here is that we have a solid relationship with various foreign suppliers of palm kernel from countries like Togo, Ghana, Cote de’Ivoire, from far away Abidjan, among others.
“So, we don’t have to rely on a local production and supply alone – once we have a shortage of local production, we just switch over to our international partners. Taking a look at the sensitivity of the business itself, the cost of what it takes to be an oil palm grower and based on our relationship with foreign partners, we always have stock in our warehouse for oil palm production.
“The main reason most Nigerians farmers are shying away from this goldmine and not paying attention to oil palm plantation is because they think that palm trees take so many years to mature to the point of production, therefore they are not ready to wait. But that is based on total ignorance; according to research, there are varieties of palm tree that starts producing in just two years after planting.”
What Are The New Varieties Of Oil Palm Seed? Fisher says, “The traditional type we are used to is Tenera, but there are new varieties, as we have quite a number of them in Nigeria now that are coming up from our further research.
“Also, the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research is working very hard to get new varieties suitable to our environment and that will produce high yield. There are some varieties that start yielding by the 24th month or in less than two years and once they start yielding, they continue to produce.”
Oluwadamilare says, “Some kinds of varieties do not yield enough profit for we processors, but because we don’t depend majorly on local supply, what we do is that we discuss with all our foreign partners with a view of mixing the maximum profit seed with the ones that are not too good – 70 percent to 30 percent. Meanwhile, we certainly have about three different categories of oil palm seed or palm kernel nuts:
- Dura palms have kernels with a thick shell.
- Tenera palms have kernels with a thin shell.
- Pisifera palms have kernels with no shell.
“When oil palms bear many and large fruit clusters, they yield a lot of
oil. But to get a lot of oil, each fruit must also contain a lot of
pulp, a shell that is not very thick, and a big kernel. In order to get a
lot of oil, the female flowers of a Dura palm are fertilized with the
pollen from a Pisifera palm. Once they are fertilized, the female
flowers turn into fruits. These fruits are of the Tenera variety. So,
the Tenera palm fruit has a lot of pulp, a thin shell and a big kernel.”
What Are The Business Opportunities In Oil Palm Cultivation?
Fisher says, “Oil palm cultivation is a very good business, in the sense that, oil is a consumable and there is no household food that doesn’t involve oil, in addition to the use of palm oil and palm kernel oil for several industrial processes.
“So, the market for oil is so huge, especially in Nigeria because the population is more than 170 million – you can imagine the market size, if 170 million consume oil every two days, if not every day.
“But as at now, we are not fully able to satisfy the market because there are just a few people into oil palm cultivation. Also, you need to know that as technology improves, the method of processing and packaging improves as well.
“For instance, many are now turning into different types of packaging that will be neater and handy for customers. So, you can as well go into the processing and packaging aspect of the oil palm business chain.”
Oluwadamilare talks about other business opportunities in oil palm. He says, “Nothing in oil palm cultivation is a waste. Like in our company, we don’t look at the oil palm alone, but we consider the nut itself, which brings us money, as we can get four different byproducts from the nut.
“Though, we should be getting like five to six byproducts from it, but the country has not gotten the machine with the capacity to produce that – we just rely solely on the local machines with little capacity.
“The various kinds of byproducts from the nut are: Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) used by pharmaceutical companies, PKC used to feed livestock, Sludge, Cooking Oil – also known as PKO, but this is the edible oil, like the new power oil in town now, while there is non-availability of machine to produce the last one.”
Other Benefits From Oil Palm Cultivation
Fisher says, “All parts of the oil palm tree are useful, from the palm fronds, which is used in weaving baskets and making brooms; the seed from where you derive oil palm and from the kernel, you get palm kernel oil, also known as vegetable oil to the shell and the back of the seed after extraction which can be used as fire enhancer.
“So, if you are interested in going into the oil palm sector and you are not able to cultivate your own or produce yours, you can go into the buyer and selling of the oil – merchandize.”
What Is The Oil Palm Market Like?
Fisher assures that the market size and demand are there and that anyone who goes into oil palm cultivation will surely get huge return on his investment. “The market size at the international level is as well booming, as Nigeria used to take the lead in oil palm production, but Malaysia has now taken over.
“However, we can still optimize our share of the market, if more and more people go into oil palm cultivation with the different types of method, unlike the traditional method of the past.
“Different technological machineries can come into place at different stages of production of the oil – from presser to boiler, among others with a view to achieving optimum result,” he says.
Oluwadamilare corroborates Fisher’s point by emphasizing that the market is there, as everything that pertains to oil palm brings money and has a foreign based market.
He says, “So, as we have foreign partners who bring us the nuts, we also have foreign buyers who particularly desire Nigerian palm oil and it is always on high demand. If you care to know, the demand is even higher than supply, in the sense that the local consumption alone is enough to wipe away the production and we as well have foreign buyers waiting for our palm oil.”
Return On Investment
Fisher says, “Since it is a long term investment, it is an investment that is worth it at the end of the day, depending on the size of the farmland – if you are cultivating one acre, the result you will be getting will be different from cultivating a hundred acres. The higher the numbers of acres you cultivate, the higher the returns on investment you get.
“Meanwhile, it is not a big issue that oil palm takes a long time to reach the harvest age; it is just because it is a long term investment. Once you start harvesting, you can continue to harvest for the next 40 to 50 years – that is why it takes so long for it to get ready for harvesting.”
Oluwadamilare says, “The return on investment is very okay and something to write home about, depending on the area you are looking at – are you looking towards exporting to neighbouring countries which will give you more return, or you are looking at local consumption. If you are looking at the consumption, the major players are from Edo State. “Some people may also go into bringing palm oil from places it is being produced to cities like Lagos in large tankers, as major distributors, to sell to retailers and they make their money. That is to say oil palm cultivation or palm oil production is lucrative.”
Minimum Startup Capital/Cost Of Investment
Fisher takes an acre of land which is about 660 ft by 66 ft as a study, as it requires about 25 seedlings, assuming you are spacing at 30 ft by 30ft.
He says, “So, to get seedlings alone, you will require about N10,000 to N15,000; for land preparation if there are no trees to stump, you will need to plough twice which costs about N4,000 for a single plough.
“Again, those who will plant the seedlings will collect N5,000; after planting, an annual minimum of three to four times of weeding will continue for the next three to five years until it gets to harvesting.
“For you to weed once, it requires about N7,500 because of the size of the land. So, putting all these together, you can imagine what the investment is going to be like for an acre. But it all depends on what you have on you and it will determine the size of land you will be cultivating.”
How Can An Interested Person But Without Enough Capital Join The Oil Palm Business Chain?
Fisher confirms that there are lots of opportunities in the oil palm business. One, if you do not have enough capital to start, one way you can make money is to get the seeds, nurse them for a period of three to four months for them to germinate, put them in nursery bags, let them grow for an additional two to three months and eventually you will have what to sell to end users who have money to really go into the cultivation.
A bag of seedling can go for as much as N200 or N250 and by the time you are able to sell seedlings to three or four farmers, you would be able to have enough to start your own cultivation.
Likely Challenges/Solutions
Fisher says, “The first challenge before now was that there was inadequate investment in research – we depended so much on the varieties we inherited, which are not really giving Nigerians enough yield and we never thought about how to improve on them.
“Secondly, there is challenge of high cost of investment in oil palm cultivation business because of the technology involved and depending on the size of land.
“Thirdly, you need to keep weeding because the plantation is not weed friendly and if you allow weed to over grow it, the production will fall.
“Fourthly, challenge in harvesting comes in, as it is not something you get to the tree, cut and it will come down – you need very serious cutting for the seed to come down and up till now, we are still using the manure traditional method of harvesting.
“But in country like Malaysia, they have developed their oil palm cultivation to the extent that they have harvesters, tickers, loaders, and everything required, from cultivation to management, and to harvesting. Also, in this part of the world, we don’t usually get enough hands to harvest, so it poses a challenge to those into cultivation. However, no matter the quantity and cost of oil palm you are cultivating, you will still make your money.”
Oluwadamilare also submits that due to the special nature of the product itself, you need a land space that has the required soil nutrients, whereby the product itself can survive. Another one is that oil palm production requires the investor to have other means of income as he/she waits for two or more years for the trees to start yielding. This is the challenge for most entrepreneurs as they usually cannot wait for a number of years to reap their investments.
“Those who cannot wait can move into other businesses in the sector like processing. They source the palm fruits or palm kernels from the farmers or business people and process it into useful products,” he says.
Advice To New Entrants/Nigerians
Fisher advices that, “As new entrants, you should get it right from the start – you need to get your land ready, you need to get good varieties of seeds or seedlings and while planting, give it sufficient spacing so as to get maximum yield. I will also advice them to be patient because it is a long term investment.
“In such cultivation, you can always do mix planting – at the early stage of cultivation when the oil palm is still very young, you can interplant with arable crops, like maize, cassava or crops that will have enough maturity so as not to just tie down capital.
“I will also urge them not to fail to seek advice from those who have been on it before with a view to guiding them on what to do and how to do it; and to be mindful that they are going to get return on their investment, if they do it well.”
For our government, he wants them to invest more in research, with a view to getting farmers the right varieties that will actually give them the maximum yield.
Oluwadamilare also notes that oil palm cultivators should understand that it is not a buy and sell thing, or a kind of business you can start and make profit from within a day, week or year, but if you are coming in, you need a lot of patience with determination to endure the process. “I can assure you that within a short period of time; you will get you returns and be a major player,” he says.
Giving account of what prompted him to go into the agricultural sector; Oluwadamilare says it is born from a lot of passion, as his company was registered when he was in year two in the university as a sociology student.
“When I entered year two, I began to seek for what to do and I finally decided to go into full time agriculture. So, in year four, I called my friends whom I know I can partner with and thereafter, we discovered and decided to dabble into oil palm and palm kernel production, which took me about two years to study, by watching and learning from someone who has been into it before.”
What Are The Business Opportunities In Oil Palm Cultivation?
Fisher says, “Oil palm cultivation is a very good business, in the sense that, oil is a consumable and there is no household food that doesn’t involve oil, in addition to the use of palm oil and palm kernel oil for several industrial processes.
“So, the market for oil is so huge, especially in Nigeria because the population is more than 170 million – you can imagine the market size, if 170 million consume oil every two days, if not every day.
“But as at now, we are not fully able to satisfy the market because there are just a few people into oil palm cultivation. Also, you need to know that as technology improves, the method of processing and packaging improves as well.
“For instance, many are now turning into different types of packaging that will be neater and handy for customers. So, you can as well go into the processing and packaging aspect of the oil palm business chain.”
Oluwadamilare talks about other business opportunities in oil palm. He says, “Nothing in oil palm cultivation is a waste. Like in our company, we don’t look at the oil palm alone, but we consider the nut itself, which brings us money, as we can get four different byproducts from the nut.
“Though, we should be getting like five to six byproducts from it, but the country has not gotten the machine with the capacity to produce that – we just rely solely on the local machines with little capacity.
“The various kinds of byproducts from the nut are: Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) used by pharmaceutical companies, PKC used to feed livestock, Sludge, Cooking Oil – also known as PKO, but this is the edible oil, like the new power oil in town now, while there is non-availability of machine to produce the last one.”
Other Benefits From Oil Palm Cultivation
Fisher says, “All parts of the oil palm tree are useful, from the palm fronds, which is used in weaving baskets and making brooms; the seed from where you derive oil palm and from the kernel, you get palm kernel oil, also known as vegetable oil to the shell and the back of the seed after extraction which can be used as fire enhancer.
“So, if you are interested in going into the oil palm sector and you are not able to cultivate your own or produce yours, you can go into the buyer and selling of the oil – merchandize.”
What Is The Oil Palm Market Like?
Fisher assures that the market size and demand are there and that anyone who goes into oil palm cultivation will surely get huge return on his investment. “The market size at the international level is as well booming, as Nigeria used to take the lead in oil palm production, but Malaysia has now taken over.
“However, we can still optimize our share of the market, if more and more people go into oil palm cultivation with the different types of method, unlike the traditional method of the past.
“Different technological machineries can come into place at different stages of production of the oil – from presser to boiler, among others with a view to achieving optimum result,” he says.
Oluwadamilare corroborates Fisher’s point by emphasizing that the market is there, as everything that pertains to oil palm brings money and has a foreign based market.
He says, “So, as we have foreign partners who bring us the nuts, we also have foreign buyers who particularly desire Nigerian palm oil and it is always on high demand. If you care to know, the demand is even higher than supply, in the sense that the local consumption alone is enough to wipe away the production and we as well have foreign buyers waiting for our palm oil.”
Return On Investment
Fisher says, “Since it is a long term investment, it is an investment that is worth it at the end of the day, depending on the size of the farmland – if you are cultivating one acre, the result you will be getting will be different from cultivating a hundred acres. The higher the numbers of acres you cultivate, the higher the returns on investment you get.
“Meanwhile, it is not a big issue that oil palm takes a long time to reach the harvest age; it is just because it is a long term investment. Once you start harvesting, you can continue to harvest for the next 40 to 50 years – that is why it takes so long for it to get ready for harvesting.”
Oluwadamilare says, “The return on investment is very okay and something to write home about, depending on the area you are looking at – are you looking towards exporting to neighbouring countries which will give you more return, or you are looking at local consumption. If you are looking at the consumption, the major players are from Edo State. “Some people may also go into bringing palm oil from places it is being produced to cities like Lagos in large tankers, as major distributors, to sell to retailers and they make their money. That is to say oil palm cultivation or palm oil production is lucrative.”
Minimum Startup Capital/Cost Of Investment
Fisher takes an acre of land which is about 660 ft by 66 ft as a study, as it requires about 25 seedlings, assuming you are spacing at 30 ft by 30ft.
He says, “So, to get seedlings alone, you will require about N10,000 to N15,000; for land preparation if there are no trees to stump, you will need to plough twice which costs about N4,000 for a single plough.
“Again, those who will plant the seedlings will collect N5,000; after planting, an annual minimum of three to four times of weeding will continue for the next three to five years until it gets to harvesting.
“For you to weed once, it requires about N7,500 because of the size of the land. So, putting all these together, you can imagine what the investment is going to be like for an acre. But it all depends on what you have on you and it will determine the size of land you will be cultivating.”
How Can An Interested Person But Without Enough Capital Join The Oil Palm Business Chain?
Fisher confirms that there are lots of opportunities in the oil palm business. One, if you do not have enough capital to start, one way you can make money is to get the seeds, nurse them for a period of three to four months for them to germinate, put them in nursery bags, let them grow for an additional two to three months and eventually you will have what to sell to end users who have money to really go into the cultivation.
A bag of seedling can go for as much as N200 or N250 and by the time you are able to sell seedlings to three or four farmers, you would be able to have enough to start your own cultivation.
Likely Challenges/Solutions
Fisher says, “The first challenge before now was that there was inadequate investment in research – we depended so much on the varieties we inherited, which are not really giving Nigerians enough yield and we never thought about how to improve on them.
“Secondly, there is challenge of high cost of investment in oil palm cultivation business because of the technology involved and depending on the size of land.
“Thirdly, you need to keep weeding because the plantation is not weed friendly and if you allow weed to over grow it, the production will fall.
“Fourthly, challenge in harvesting comes in, as it is not something you get to the tree, cut and it will come down – you need very serious cutting for the seed to come down and up till now, we are still using the manure traditional method of harvesting.
“But in country like Malaysia, they have developed their oil palm cultivation to the extent that they have harvesters, tickers, loaders, and everything required, from cultivation to management, and to harvesting. Also, in this part of the world, we don’t usually get enough hands to harvest, so it poses a challenge to those into cultivation. However, no matter the quantity and cost of oil palm you are cultivating, you will still make your money.”
Oluwadamilare also submits that due to the special nature of the product itself, you need a land space that has the required soil nutrients, whereby the product itself can survive. Another one is that oil palm production requires the investor to have other means of income as he/she waits for two or more years for the trees to start yielding. This is the challenge for most entrepreneurs as they usually cannot wait for a number of years to reap their investments.
“Those who cannot wait can move into other businesses in the sector like processing. They source the palm fruits or palm kernels from the farmers or business people and process it into useful products,” he says.
Advice To New Entrants/Nigerians
Fisher advices that, “As new entrants, you should get it right from the start – you need to get your land ready, you need to get good varieties of seeds or seedlings and while planting, give it sufficient spacing so as to get maximum yield. I will also advice them to be patient because it is a long term investment.
“In such cultivation, you can always do mix planting – at the early stage of cultivation when the oil palm is still very young, you can interplant with arable crops, like maize, cassava or crops that will have enough maturity so as not to just tie down capital.
“I will also urge them not to fail to seek advice from those who have been on it before with a view to guiding them on what to do and how to do it; and to be mindful that they are going to get return on their investment, if they do it well.”
For our government, he wants them to invest more in research, with a view to getting farmers the right varieties that will actually give them the maximum yield.
Oluwadamilare also notes that oil palm cultivators should understand that it is not a buy and sell thing, or a kind of business you can start and make profit from within a day, week or year, but if you are coming in, you need a lot of patience with determination to endure the process. “I can assure you that within a short period of time; you will get you returns and be a major player,” he says.
Giving account of what prompted him to go into the agricultural sector; Oluwadamilare says it is born from a lot of passion, as his company was registered when he was in year two in the university as a sociology student.
“When I entered year two, I began to seek for what to do and I finally decided to go into full time agriculture. So, in year four, I called my friends whom I know I can partner with and thereafter, we discovered and decided to dabble into oil palm and palm kernel production, which took me about two years to study, by watching and learning from someone who has been into it before.”
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