International Research Journal of Plant Science (ISSN: 2141-5447) Vol. 4(6) pp. 158-167, June, 2013
Available online http://www.interesjournals.org/IRJPS
Copyright © 2013 International Research Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Oil Palm and Palm Oil Industry in Ghana: A Brief
History
Danyo Gilbert
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Oil Palm Research Institute, P. O. Box 74, Kusi-Eastern Region, Ghana.
E-mail: gilday2000@yahoo.com; Tel: +233-(0)243-143-403.
Abstract
A brief history of the Oil palm in Ghana was carried out, to highlight the importance of oil palm to the
economy of Ghana, policy interventions of central governments, the key actors and operations in the oil
palm sector, trends and constraints, as well as prospects for commercial oil palm cultivation and palm
oil industry in Ghana. The African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the most important member of
the genus Elaeis in terms of production and economic yield. It produces approximately 23 % of the
world’s supply of vegetable oils in the form of palm oil. In Ghana, the oil palm has assumed increasing
importance as a non-traditional export commodity. In the hierarchy of economic importance, it is next
to cocoa in the agricultural tree crop sector of the economy. An estimated total land area of 305, 758
hectares is under oil palm cultivation in Ghana. Commercial production is restricted predominantly to
the forest zones whose climates are ecologically suitable for oil palm cultivation. Five main types of
actors are recognized in the oil palm and palm oil industry in Ghana: (1) Large industrial plantations
with large-scale processing mills and a network of smallholder and out-grower farmers; (2) Mediumscale plantations with medium-scale industrial mills with a network of out-growers; (3) Small private
farmers cultivating less than 10 hectares; (4) Small-scale processors using semi-mechanised mills with
capacities of about 6–10 tonnes per day; and (5) Secondary processors who process crude palm oil
into refined olein. The industry is supported with scientific research and technical innovations by the
Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The
prospects of oil palm cultivation to Ghana’s socio-economic advancement are greater than presently
appreciated, if more investments (capital input, prioritized research, and value-addition) are made into
its cultivation and industry by governments and corporate bodies alike. There are, however, pertinent
socio-economic and environmental issues that if not addressed, may hinder future commercial oil palm
plantation development and palm oil industry in Ghana.
Keywords: Oil Palm, Plantation Development, Palm Oil industry, Value-addition, and Biodiversity loss.
INTRODUCTION
The cultivated oil palm was first illustrated by Nicholas
Jacquin in 1763, hence its name, Elaeis guineensis Jacq.
There is fossil, historical, and linguistic evidence for an
African origin of the oil palm (Hartley, 1988). Fossil
pollen, similar to the oil palm as it grows today, has been
found in Miocene and more recent strata in the Niger
Delta. The palm spreads from 16°N in Senegal to 15°S in
Angola, and eastwards to Zanzibar and Madagascar. The
best production levels are attained in the high rainfall
areas between 7°N and 7°S from the equator (Verheye,
2002).
The real oil palm belt in Africa runs through the
southern latitudes of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory
Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroun, and into
the equatorial regions of Equatorial Guinea and
the Congo. The northern limit of this belt varies with the
Danyo 159
isohyets of 1200 mm rain per year and with the
topography of 400 m altitude. The extension of oil palm in
East Africa is irregular. Most of the East and South-East
Africa is too dry, and, therefore, the crop appears only at
altitudes below 1000 m near lakes or watercourses with
reasonable rainfall. Its presence on the eastern coast of
Madagascar is due to a local microclimate (Verheye,
2002).
From its centre of origin (Gulf of Guinea area), the
palm has spread to other developing regions with similar
climates particularly, Latin America (Brazil, Honduras,
and Ecuador), Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia),
and finally Oceania (Papua New Guinea) (Jacquemard,
1998).
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is the most important
member of the genus Elaeis in terms of production and
economic yield (Jones and Hughes, 1989). For each
hectare of oil palm, harvested year-round, the annual
production averages 10 tonnes of fruits, yielding 3,000 kg
of pericarp oil and 750 kg of seed kernels yielding 250 kg
of high quality palm kernel oil as well as 500 kg of palm
kernel meal (http://www. Wiki/File: Elaeis_guineensis).
Palm fronds and kernel meal are processed for use as
livestock feed. It produces approximately 23 % of the
world’s supply of vegetable oils in the form of palm oil
(Paranjothy, 1989), Table 2.
Ghana’s first international commercial trade in oil
palm took place in 1820; a direct result of demand
generated by the industrial revolution in Europe
(Agbodeka, 1992). The British colonialist deliberately
encouraged the palm oil trade, and palm oil became the
principal cargo for former slave traders and ships after
the abolition of the slave trade. Starting from the wild oil
palm harvesting, oil palm evolved into an agricultural crop
and plantations were established by 1850. This led to
palm oil becoming the principal export from the then Gold
Coast. By the 1880s, palm oil accounted for 75% of the
Country’s export revenue.
However, the discovery of mineral oil that could
replace palm oil and the opening of European oil palm
plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, led to the collapse
of the oil palm industry in the Gold Coast (Adjei-Nsiah et
al., 2012). Malaysia which is currently a major player in
the world palm oil market, started the establishment of oil
palm plantations with planting materials from Ghana.
Europeans in Malaysia, also a British colony, travelled to
the Sese oil palm estate established in the 1900s by
Alexander Cecil Goff at Salt Pond in the Central Region
of Ghana, to learn about oil palm cultivation, taking away
seeds, and production techniques. Oil palm estates
owned by Europeans were established in Malaysia from
1917 onwards (Fold et al., 2012).
By the 1860s and 1870s world oil palm price declined
and the Gold Coast oil palm industry could not produce
competitively. But since national independence in 1957,
various governments have promoted oil palm as an
industrial crop for local consumption and export (AdjeiNsiah et al., 2012). It is estimated that 243,852 tonnes of
palm oil is being produced presently (Agbodeka, 1992).
Ghana currently has a supply deficit of approximately
35,000 tonnes of palm oil. The estimated deficit in the
ECOWAS sub-region is 850,000 tonnes.
This paper recounts the history of oil palm cultivation
in Ghana, highlights the economic importance of oil palm
to the economy of Ghana, policy interventions of central
governments, the key actors and operations in the oil
palm sector, trends and constraints, and evaluates
prospects for both commercial oil palm cultivation and the
palm oil industry in Ghana.
Botany of the Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis)
The oil palm is a monocotyledonous crop. Mature trees
are single-stemmed, and grow 20 to 30 m tall. The early
growth from the seedling results in the formation of a
wide stem base. A trunk is not formed until three years
old when the apex has reached full diameter in the form
of an inverted cone, after which intermodal elongation
takes place. Roots arise from the base of the hypocotyls
and later from the basal bole of the stem (Verheye,
2002). The palm is monoecious with separate male and
female flowers on the same plant. The flowers are
produced in dense clusters; each individual flower is
small, with three sepals and three petals. Crossfertilization is through successive cycles of male and
female flower production. The palm fruit takes five to six
months to mature after pollination. The palm fruit is
reddish, about the size of a large plum and grows in large
bunches. When ripe, each fruit bunch weighs 40-50
kilogram (Figure 1). The pulp of the fleshy fruits yields
solid, edible, orange-red oil commonly called palm oil.
The endosperm/kernel yields clear, solid, yellowish edible
oil called palm kernel oil (Jacquemard, 1998). The
productive commercial life of the crop is between 20 and
30 years after which harvesting becomes increasingly
difficult and yields decline slowly (Danso et al., 2008).
History of Oil Palm Cultivation in Ghana
Starting from the wild oil palm harvesting, oil palm
evolved into an agricultural crop and plantations were
established by 1850 (Agbodeka, 1992). In fact, one the
earliest oil palm plantation and mill was established by
Alexander Cecil Goff in the 1900s at Salt Pond, near
160 Int. Res. J. Plant Sci.
Figure 1. Mature Oil Palm-bearing fruits
Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana.
The aborted legislation of the British colonial
government in Ghana to take control over ‘idle’ lands, left
intact the pre-colonial communal land tenure
arrangements (legislation in the late 1890s, which sought
to vest in the British Crown all unoccupied lands, forest
lands, and minerals (Gyasi, 1996). The land tenure
system in southern Ghana evolved in response to cash
crop production by smallholder and small capitalist
farmers, but not in ways that favour large-scale
agricultural production (Amanor, 2001).
Since the colonial administration had not
appropriated any large tracks of land, post-independence
governments in Ghana did not have ready stocks of land
available to use in large-scale agriculture. When the post
independent governments in Ghana decided to support
plantation production generally, and oil palm in particular,
they had to forcefully expropriate land. These forced
acquisitions generated serious problems for the largescale oil palm estates. The plantation system therefore,
failed to gain a significant hold (Gyasi, 1996).
As a result, the cultivation of oil palm in Ghana is
dominated by private small-scale farmers who cultivate
about 80 % of the estimated total land area of 305, 758
hectares under oil palm cultivation (Fold et al., 2012),
leaving the country with a small palm oil industry, by
global standards, tailored for the domestic market but
looking towards the West African regional market while
being unable to compete on the international market
(Table 2) (Fold et al., 2012).
Commercial production of oil palm in Ghana is
restricted predominantly, to the forest zones whose
climates are ecologically suitable for its cultivation. van
der Vossen (1969) using values of mean annual water
deficit delineated in broad terms, this area into three
climatic zones: climatically optimum (150 mm water
deficit), favourable (250 mm water deficit), and suitable
(400 mm water deficit) for economic oil palm cultivation.
The areas described by van der Vossen cover six regions
namely, Volta, Eastern, Central, Western, Ashanti and
Brong Ahafo, with rainfall and temperature being the
determining factors.
In Ghana, the cultivated oil palm (Elaeis guineensis
Jacq.) exists in three different fruit forms: dura, tenera,
and pisifera. The dura has a thick shell; tenera has a
relatively thin shell; and the pisifera is shell-less
(Sparnaaij, 1969). Beirnaert and Vanderweyen, (1964)
established the genetic relationship between these fruit
forms. Tenera, the monofactorial hybrid of the dura and
pisifera palms is the most commercial variety. This high
yielding progeny forms the bulk of all planting materials
for plantation development in Ghana.
In Ghana, oil palm cultivation has a peak season
from April to November and a lean season from
December to March, which corresponds with the rainy
and dry seasons. About 70 percent of annual yield occurs
during the peak season. There is a wide variation in the
productivity of oil palm in Ghana. The highest productivity
of 20 tonnes/ha have been recorded by plantations in
valley bottoms. The large estates achieve productivity
levels of between 10–15 tonnes/ha. Smallholders and out
growers produce between 7–10 tonnes/ha while private
small-scale farms produce about 3 tonnes/ha (Table 1).
Four of the commercial oil palm estates created by
Post-independence governments in the 1960s and 1970s
are still viable today (Table 1). They are Ghana Oil Palm
Development Company (GOPDC), Twifo Oil Palm
Plantations (TOPP), Benso Oil Palm Plantations (BOPP),
and Norpalm Ghana (Fold et al., 2012). These were fully
or partially privatized in the 1990s and early 2000s, as
Danyo 161
Table 1. Major Commercial Oil Palm Companies and Areas Cultivated in Ghana.
Company
Nucleus (ha)
GOPDC
Ghana Oil Palm
Development
Company Ltd.
TOPP
Twifo Oil Palm
Plantations Ltd
BOPP
Benso Oil Palm
Plantations Ltd.
NORPALM
Norpalm Ghana Ltd
JUABENG
Juabeng Oil Mills
AYIEM
Ayiem Oil Mills
GOLDEN STAR
(A mining company)
TOTAL
Total (ha)
8000
Outgrower (ha)/
Small holder
14, 352
22, 352
Milling Capacity
(Tonnes/hour)
60
4, 234
1, 690
5, 924
30
4, 666
1, 650
6, 316
27
4, 000
-
4, 000
30
424
1, 100
1, 524
15
250
-
250
10
-
720
720
-
21, 574
19, 512
41, 086
172
Source: Directorate of Crop Services, MoFA (2010).
part of the structural adjustment policy in the 1980s
(Adjei-Nsiah et al., 2012)
These commercial estates are primarily involved in oil
palm plantation development; harvesting and processing
of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) in the mill to produce crude
palm oil (CPO), palm kernel oil (PKO); and palm kernel
cake (PKC). Refining/ fractionation of CPO into higher
value products such as olein and stearin (major products)
and refined bleached deodorized oil and palm fatty
acid distillate, as additional, smaller volume products
(Stenek , 2011).
Perhaps, the biggest shift in policy towards the oil
palm industry by any post-independence government
was initiated by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2003.
The NPP government supported the expansion of oil
palm cultivation and palm oil processing as one of four
Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI), to meet the large
unmet demand in Ghana and the large markets in the
West African region (PSI-OP, 2003). The Presidential
Special Initiatives (PSI) aimed at creating new pillars of
growth. The oil palm initiative in particular, aimed at
building rural industry, creating rural employment and
empowering smallholder farmers (Fold et al., 2012). The
approach was partly shaped by past experiences.
Expropriating land was not an option, given the problems
it had caused in the past and given ongoing land litigation
after privatization of the large estates (Gyasi, 1996).
The major achievements of the policy intervention s
by the NPP government included:
1. 3,000 ha outgrower project in the Upper and Lower
Denkyira Districts of the Central Region, funded by the
Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD).
2. Expansion of the seed nut production capacity of the
Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) from 2 million to 5
million seed nuts per year under the World Bank
sponsored Agriculture Services Sub-Sector Investment
Programme (AgSSIP).
3. Cultivation of over 20,000ha small-scale farms under
the President’s Special Initiative (PSI) on oil palm.
The succeeding National Democratic Congress
(NDC) government inspired by the moderate success of
the policy initiatives of the NPP administration on oil
palm, has in the year 2011, initiated the development of a
master plan for the oil palm sector, as well as the
development of policy, strategy and implementation
manuals for tree crops with funding from AFD.
162 Int. Res. J. Plant Sci.
Processing Technology
Two kinds of oil are obtained from the oil palm fruit.
Crude palm oil is produced from the pulp, and palm
kernel oil is produced from the seed kernel. Before the
20th century, oil palm was processed into palm oil only by
traditional methods; dropped ripe fruits were collected
from the ground or a few ripe bunches were cut from the
palm tree for manual processing into palm oil (Hartley,
1988: 694—703).
With the rapid twentieth-century growth in West
African exports came the introduction of simple machines
to reduce labour requirements and increase oil yield from
a given quantity of fruit (Hartley, 1988: 694—703).
Mechanical devices worth mentioning include the
Duchscher press, the perforated cylindrical metal cage,
the Colin expeller, the screw press, the hydraulic press
(by Stork of Amsterdam) etc. These presses provided a
relatively efficient process for the step of pressing out the
oily liquid during oil production.
st
Presently (21 century), however, there is efficient
machinery in sophisticated factories converting the large
volume of fruits produced on modern plantations into high
standard palm oil for the global market (Kriemhild, 2000).
Whatever the scale and sophistication of the process, the
following main steps are required (Figure 2a and b):
1. Separation of individual fruits from the bunch either
manually or mechanically;
2. Softening of the fruit flesh by steaming or boiling;
3. Pressing out of the oily liquid from the fruit pulp and;
4. Purification of the oil mostly by heating or use of
artificial clarifiers.
Small-scale Processing (Traditional Processing)
The small-scale processes are suitable for the processing
of FFB from wild oil palm groves or from smallholdings.
The main objective is to produce palm oil (red oil) for
traditional food use. Whole, ripe, fresh fruit bunches
(FFB) are cut from the palm, divided into a few sections
(spikelet), heaped together, moistened, and covered with
leaves. Natural fermentation during 2–3 days loosens the
fruits so that they are picked-out of the bunch sections by
hand- picking.
For oil production, the separated fruits are boiled with
water for about 4 hours to soften the fibrous fruit pulp.
The cooked fruits are emptied into a large container,
which may be a pit lined with clay, an iron drum, or a
large wooden mortar. They are reduced to pulp with
pestles or by treading it under foot. The resulting mash
may be diluted with water, and the oil skimmed off or
squeezed out of the fibrous mash by hand. Finally, the oil
is heated to boil out the residual water.
In Ghana, an interesting operating procedure has
been developed, in which the small-scale mill owner
provides mill facilities to the farmers, who are then
responsible for the bunch stripping and cooking of the
fruit. Mill operatives carry out digesting and pressing
procedures, after which the farmers take away the oil
from their own fruit for clarification.
The advantages for the farmers are numerous: They
need no capital investment in mill equipment; there are
no arguments regarding purchase price of FFB; if farmers
produce high-quality Tenera fruit, they retain the full
benefit; and farmers pay only a processing charge. Their
net profits are higher than those obtained selling FFB,
even if they employ labour to carry out their share of the
processing.
Large-Scale Processing
Processing the large quantities of fruits produced by
plantations or by large smallholder cooperatives,
however, requires a progressively greater degree of
mechanization and mechanical handling. Furthermore,
since oil produced on a large scale is usually intended for
export or for local refinery processes, the ultimate
objective is a neutral oil of bland flavour and nearly white
color. To attain this quality, the processes (including the
handling of FFB) are designed to minimize the
development of free fatty acids and oil oxidation (Figure
2a and b).
Many of the oil palm mills in Ghana have fully
mechanized power-operated mills. The principal steps in
commercial production of palm oil today are the following
(Figure 2a and b):
1. Harvest at optimum ripeness.
2. Transport FFB to an oil mill with minimum bruising.
3. Transfer FFB to sterilizing cages.
4. Sterilize FFB by steam under pressure.
5. Transfer cooked FFB to a bunch stripper.
6. Transfer fruit to a digester.
7. Press in single-screw or twin-screw press.
8. The oily discharge from the press, containing water
and fruit debris, is passed through screens and settling
tanks.
9. The oil phase from the settling tanks is passed to a
clarifying centrifuge. The sludge, or heavy phase, from
the settling tanks is centrifuged and the recovered oil
returned to the settling tanks.
Danyo 163
Figure 2a.
Figure 2a. Schematic
diagram of a modern Palm Oil processing plant
Figure 2b. A modern Palm Oil processing plant with composite
machinery.
Credit: www.china-huasong.en.aliba.com/productgruoplist
Commercialization/Oil Palm Industry
Palm oil is the most versatile vegetable oil in the
world due to its numerous food and nonfood uses.
Palm kernel oil can also be used as an edible fat
in manufactured foods. Kernel oil is also used in
the oleo-chemical industry to manufacture
products such as cosmetics. The structure of the
palm oil industry in Ghana has been shaped by
the presence of two different markets: home
consumption and industrial use in domestic
manufacturing (Figure 3). As a result, Ghana’s
164 Int. Res. J. Plant Sci.
FUNCTIONS
Consumption
ACTORS
Import of
SUPPORTERS
Export of CPO to
regional markets
Consumers
CPO
International
Financial
Institutions
Institution
Manufacturing
Companies
Processing
(5)Secondary Processors
And
Equipment
Suppliers
Trading
Large-scale
Processors
(2)Mediumscale
Processors
(4)Small-scale
Processors
Banks
(1)Large Industrial
Estate
Medium-scale
Farms
Ministry of Food
and Agriculture
and CSIR
Production
And
Bulking
Small-holder
Farms
Out grower
Farms
(3)Small
Private Farms
Input Providers (OPRI)
Figure 3. Value Chain Diagram for the Oil Palm Industry in Ghana
Key:
Material Flow
Financial Flow
industry has two sub-sectors which are largely separate
(Fold et al., 2012).
The industrial sub-sector consists of medium- and
large-scale oil palm plantations and mills. It is
characterized by more efficient technology, economies of
scale, higher productivity on farms (in terms of yields of
oil palm bunches) and in mills (in terms of quantity of oil
extracted), and by its better quality of crude palm oil as
well as further refined palm oil products, which are sold to
companies for use in manufacturing.
The small-scale sub-sector consists of private
smallholder oil palm cultivators, who largely sell their fruit
bunches to small-scale mills or household (largely
manual) processors. It is characterized by low-yielding oil
palm variety, low productivity of farm and mill, and low
quality crude palm oil which is sold in the village or at
small town markets.
There are four large-scale oil palm plantations that have
their own processing mills (they are Ghana Oil Palm
Development Company (GOPDC), Twifo Oil Palm
Plantations (TOPP), Benso Oil Palm Plantations (BOPP),
and Norpalm Ghana, eight medium-scale mills (most of
which have small oil palm plantations), and about 400
small-scale processing units. There are a few palm kernel
mills producing only palm kernel oil, which
emerged because many estates did not have palm kernel
Danyo 165
processing capacities in the past. None of the mills currently
operate at 100 percent capacity, mainly because of short
supply of fruit bunches (Fold et al., 2012).
Medium and large-scale mills sell to a small number
of industrial companies, with Unilever being the dominant
buyer until recently. Unilever’s factory in Ghana produces
a large range of consumer goods marketed in the West
African region. Unilever (formerly Lever Brothers), PZ
Cussons (Patterson Zacchonis), Ameen Sangari and now
GOPDC have refinery and fractionation facilities. There
are a few other buyers of crude palm oil who use it in
manufacturing soaps and other products.
The volume of crude palm oil produced in Ghana is
not enough to meet the needs of these factories, so they
also import crude palm oil or substitutes for it. However,
small quantities of crude palm oil are exported to
European and US niche markets such as ethnic foods or
organic palm oil. The three major importers of palm oil
are China, India and the European Union (Table 2).
Presently, there is growing interest in palm oil for use in
biodiesel production.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
st
The first decade of the 21 century was characterized
by policy fragmentation resulting from weak state
organization where groups of politicians or groups of
donors support new initiatives without linking them
together or learning from past experiences (Gyasi, 1996).
In the 2000s, there were three government initiatives on
palm oil organized by three different state institutions with
no connections to each other.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), in
collaboration with donors supported a large out grower
scheme for Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP). The
Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI) Secretariat was
in charge of implementing the oil palm PSI described
above. And the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) project funded by the World Bank and
implemented by a separate project unit positioned within
the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) paid for value
chain studies, including one on palm oil with an eye to
creating interventions in that industry but with no linkages
to what the PSI did. The PSI portfolio has subsequently
been moved to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Palm oil is the most versatile vegetable oil in the
world due to its numerous food and nonfood uses. Palm
kernel oil can also be used as an edible fat in
manufactured foods. Kernel oil is also used in the oleochemical industry to manufacture products such as
cosmetics. The structure of the palm oil industry in
Ghana has been shaped by the presence of two different
markets: home consumption and industrial use in
domestic manufacturing. As a result, Ghana’s industry
has two sub-sectors which are largely separate (Fold et
al., 2012).
The industrial sub-sector consists of medium- and
large-scale oil palm plantations and mills. It is
characterized by more efficient technology, economies of
scale, higher productivity on farms (in terms of yields of
oil palm bunches) and in mills (in terms of quantity of oil
extracted), and by its better quality of crude palm oil as
well as further refined palm oil products, which are sold to
companies for use in manufacturing. However, the
volume of crude palm oil produced in Ghana is not
enough to meet the needs of these factories, so they in
addition import crude palm oil or substitutes for use.
In the last few years, foreign investment in palm oil
mills has increased, and a few new mills (either foreign or
domestic investment or both) are being built. The recent
interest is attributed to the high price of crude palm oil
and surging interest in oil palm for biodiesel.
Lastly, the Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI); the
public research institution specializing in oil palm has
been neglected over the years. The Oil Palm Research
Institute is supposed to provide seedlings and technical
assistance to small farmers. The oil palm PSI sought to
strengthen the Institute by increasing funding for it to
produce improved seed nuts and germinate them into
seedlings for PSI nurseries and eventually given to
smallholders. However, the PSI initiative did not support
the Institute long enough for it to have really upgraded
seeds.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In summary, five main types of actors are recognized in
the oil palm and palm oil sectors in Ghana.
1) Large industrial plantations with large-scale
processing mills and a network of smallholder and outgrower farmers.
2) Medium-scale
plantations
with
medium-scale
industrial mills with a network of out-growers.
3) Small private farmers cultivating less than 10
hectares.
4) Small-scale processors using semi-mechanised mills
with capacities of about 6–10 tonnes per day; and
5) Secondary processors who process crude palm oil
into refined olein (Figure 3).
The industry is supported with scientific research and
technical innovations (i.e., use of improved/hybrid
planting materials, optimal planting distance, soil mineral
nutrition, pests, diseases and weed management as well
as other scientific cultural and agronomic practices by the
166 Int. Res. J. Plant Sci.
Table 2. Palm oil: production, export, import, and consumption in 2009/10 (million
tonnes)
Country
Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Columbia
Nigeria
EU
USA
Pakistan
Bangledesh
India
China
Others
TOTAL
Production
21.00
17.00
1.30
0.80
0.80
3.10
44.80
Export
16.00
15.50
3.30
35.00
Source:
The
AOCS
Lipid
http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/market/palmoil.htm.
Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) of the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (Adjei-Nsiah et
al., 2012).
The prospects for the oil palm plantation and industry
are great. However, the anticipated gains from the
industry should be balanced against the potential social
and environmental impacts of commercial oil palm
development and palm oil industry in Ghana.
Oil palm is a valuable economic crop and provides a
major source of employment. It allows many small
landholders to participate in the cash economy and often
results in the upgrade of the infrastructure (schools,
roads, hospitals, market centres, telecommunications etc)
within the catchment area. However, industrial oil palm
plantation development requires the expropriation of
large expanse of land; the clearing and often massive
felling of trees in pristine forest concessions, culminating
in land tenure conflicts (local ownership of lands) on the
one hand, and ecological problems (biodiversity loss) on
the other hand.
Where native/customary lands are expropriated by oil
palm plantations without any form of consultation or
compensation, social conflict between the plantations and
local residents may result. Furthermore, the potential
demand for ‘skilled’ imported labour or illegal immigrants,
on oil palm plantations (foreign-owned), may create
concerns about the employment conditions and social
impacts of these practices.
Biodiversity loss (including the potential extinction of
charismatic species) is one of the most serious negative
Import
2.70-5.00
1.00
2.20
1.00
6.60
5.80
13.00
34.60
Library,
Consumption
4.70
3.60
1.30
1.20
2.70-5.00
1.00
2.10
0.90
6.80
5.90
12.00
44.70
accessed
at
effects of oil palm cultivation. Large areas of already
threatened tropical rainforest are often cleared to make
way for plantations. Lack of enforcement of forest
protection laws or compliance to environmental
legislation, may result in corporate irresponsibility leading
to encroachment of plantations into protected areas,
open burning of plantation wastes and release of palm
mill pollutants such as palm oil mill effluent (POME) in the
environment.
Furthermore, the recent liberation of the mining
sector in Ghana has brought in hordes of local and
foreign investors into the mining sector. Large oil palm
plantations are given as concessions for gold and
diamond prospection. Near-virgin rain forests ideal for oil
palm cultivation are similarly ceded out. The surface
mining operations degrade the otherwise arable lands
beyond reclamation for agricultural purposes.
Demand for palm oil has increased in recent years
due to its use as a biofuel, increasing the environmental
impact of cultivation as well as causing a food versus fuel
dilemma. Using palm oil as biofuel is perverse because it
encourages the conversion of natural habitats such as
forests and peatlands, into large plantations, releasing
large quantities of greenhouse gases.
Finally, the ever-evolving phenomenon of climate
change and its attendant climate variability suggests that,
the hitherto climatically suitable areas for oil palm
cultivation in Ghana may, either be expanding or
diminishing. This is worth investigating to re-delineate
these areas.
Danyo 167
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is grateful to all who contributed to the
success of this article, especially the global scientific
research community.
REFERENCES
Adjei-Mensah S, Sakyi-Dawson O, Kuyper TW (2012). Exploring
opportunities for enhancing innovation in agriculture: The case of oil
palm production in Ghana. J. Agric. Sci.; vol. 4, No. 10, 2012 and at:
www.ccsenet.org/jas.
Agbodeka F (1992). An Economic History of Ghana: From the Earliest
Times. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.
Amanor K, Diderutuah M (2001). Share Contracts in the Oil Palm and
Citrus Belt of Ghana. London: International Institute for Environment
and
Development.
Available
at
http://pubs.iied.org/9008IIED.html?s=LTRAWAandb=d
Beirnaert A, Vanderweyen R (1964). Contribution a l’etude genetique et
biometric des varieties d’ Elaeis guineensis Jacq. Publs Inst. Natn.
Etude agron. Congo belge. Serie scientifique 27, 101 p.
Danso I, Nuertey BN, Andoh-Mensah E, Osei-Bonsu A, Asamoah TEO,
Dwarko DA, Okyere-Boateng G, Marfo-Ahenkora E, Opoku A (2008).
Response of oil palm to planting density and water deficit in three
climatic zones of southern Ghana. Journal of Ghana Science
Association, Vol. 10 (2), 2008, pp 93-101.
Fold N, Whitefield L (2012). Developing a Palm Oil Sector: The
Experiences of Malaysia and Ghana Compared, DIIS Working Paper.
Pp. 43
Gyasi E (1996). The Environmental Impact and Sustainability of
Plantations in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana’s Experience with Oil-Palm
Plantations. In Sustaining the Future: Economic, Social and
Environmental Change in Sub-Saharan Africa, eds E. Gyasi and J.
Uitto. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, chapter 35.
Hartley CWS (1988). The Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq). Longman
Scientific and Technical Publication. (Third Edition-Tropical
Agriculture Series, 694-703pp.) John Wiley and Sons, NY.
Jacquemard JC (1998). Oil Palm. Macmillan Education Limited (The
Tropical Agriculturist Series 144 pp.) London and Basingstoke.
Kriemhild CO (2000). History of Palm Oil, Cambridge World History of
Foods, Keneth F. Kiple (ed). Bowling Green State University, Ohio,
U.S.A.
MoFA
(2010).
Directorate
of
Crop
Services;
http://mofa.gov.gh/site?page_id=8819
Palm Oil Processing Machines. Available at: www.chinahuasong.en.aliba.com/productgruoplist
Paranjothy K (1989). Research strategies and advances in oil palm cell
and tissue culture. Elaeis. 1 (2) 119-125.
Presidential Initiative on Oil Palm (2003). Policy Document, PSI-Oil
Palm Secretariat, State House, Accra.
Sparnaaij LD, Rees AR, Chapas LC (1963). Annual Yield Variation in
the Oil Palm. Journal of West African Institute for Oil Palm Research,
4: 11-125.
Stenek V (2011). GOPDC- Climate risk and Agribusiness. International
Financial Corporation (IFC), Richenda Connell, Acclimatise, pp.38.
Van der Vossen HAM (1969). Areas climatically suitable for optimal oil
palm production in the forest zone of Ghana. Ghana J. Agric. Sci. 2,
113.
Verheye W (2002). Growth and Production of Oil Palm. In: Soils, Plants
and
Crop
Production,
Vol.
(2),
EOLSS
and
http://www.eolss.net/Eolss-Sample-AllChapter.aspx.