₦airaland Forum

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING OIL PALM PLANTATION BY KKFARMS

Knowing quite well that oil palm plantation is a long term project that will not yield any returns during the first and perhaps in the third year of it's establishment which is characterized by huge financial investment and labour in the case of large plantation .As a farmer you need to ask yourself why you want to invest in a long term perennial crop like oil palm plantation .If the reason is to make immediate return then oil palm plantation is not for you . We have seen cases of farmers and cooperate organisation that we set up oil palm plantation for but abandoned it during the second and third year thereby rendering the project unproductive and lost of investment .Asian countries who came to Nigeria in 60th and 70th to obtain our local seeds dura and pisifera which they improved the quality to produce the hybrid seeds have never relent in their efforts to improve the standard of their farm management and setting up more oil palm plantation which to day makes them the largest producer and net exporter of refined palm oil .

You have to also know that in oil palm farming we have two grades of tenera seedlings available for planting which are F1 seedlings and F2 seedlings.If you are working to set up a commercial oil palm farm the only grade of seedlings you plant is tenera F1 which is referred to as the first generation of seed obtained primarily from the cross breed of two distinc parent plant called dura and pisifera .The planting of F1 seedlings coupled with good agronomic practice for 3 to 4 years is what can only produce yield that covers your farm expenses and give you return on investment upon harvest year in year out .The F1 seedlings for your peace of mind can be obtained direct from NIFOR though at a very higher cost or can as well be bought from any renowned company or individual with track records of producing F1 seedlings in Nigeria .We also have individual farmers who procure sprouted nut from NIFOR that you can buy from them but make sure they show you an invoice from NIFOR to prove to you that they procure their sprouted but from NIFOR .Please take of this .It is also pertinent to note that NIFOR have increased the price of their sprouted nut this year from from 200 naira to 500 naira per sprout and the implication of this is that you will not get to buy F1 tenera for less than 1000 or 1200 naira next year from individual farmers who nurses F1 seedlings and if you are buying direct from NIFOR it may cost you more than 3,000 per seedling .We must also admit that there are private owned companies in Nigeria that also produced F1 tenera and sell at a price lesser than NIFOR such as PRESCO AND OKOMU GB etc .Till date I do not know why NIFOR as a government owned institution cannot subsidised price of their F1 seedling thereby leaving the average Nigeria farmer with no choice but to plant F2 seedlings which in most cases may yield lesser oil and some of the plant may turn steril.In simple language F2 seedlings is second generation of seed which is harvested from existing Tenera farm which nursed and replanted .Their productivity is usually low when compared to F1 seedlings.Unless we are planting the best grade of tenera F1 I am sorry to say we cannot compete with other countries like Indonesia and Malaysia who are the largest producer of palm oil in the world .Do you even know most supergene we plant in Nigeria are F2 because very few people import F1 super gene ?

LETS LOOK AT WHAT CATEGORY OF PEOPLE CAN CULTIVATE OIL PALM PLANTATION

The category of people that can cultivate oil palm tree are people that have farmlands at the rural side .having farmland either purchased or inherited will give you a leverage to grow oil palm tree but that is not enough .Many farmers or would- be- farmers from the cities always assumed that once you have hectares of farmland and funds you can go into oil palm farming .For you to become successful in oil palm farming you need to have patience,perseverance and most importantly you have to be very hardworking if not you will be forced to abandoned the plantation project half way .It is very hard to loose money growing oil palm tree but the aspect of waiting for 3 to 4 years to start making returns on investment is where many farmers and investors failed .There are many successful and productive oil palm plantation and there are still many failed and unproductive oil palm plantation in Nigeria ,what differentiate the two is not lack of funds but lack of patience that one need to endure before the plant start fruiting .

If you have patiently read this post ,you should know by now whether you are worthy to start an oil palm plantation or not .Agriculture is time bound and oil palm farming is a game of patience and hard work .You do not necessarily need to start with 10 acres ,you can start even with few acres or plots ,Learn to start small and grow big and you can be rest assured that oil palm farming will reward you by providing you with sustainable wealth that you and your children can always depend on .

Do you know that 50% of palm oil and vegetable oil we are still consuming in Nigeria is obtained from the local palm trees planted in the early 70th by our great grand parent and the families that owns them are still profiting from them ? .What's now delaying you from establishing this type of project that can sustain you and your family within the next few years ?

OUR SERVICES INCLUDE

# Oil palm plantation set up and management

#sales of farmland at the rate of 250k per acre within ASA LG of kwara state

# sales of improved oil palm seedlings

# farm development services and general consultation .

Call or Whatsapp 07062053560