The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) in collaboration with Mr Paul Ekpo, the member representing Etinan Federal Constituency, has distributed oil palm seedlings and money to 50 farmers in the area.
The Etinan Federal Constituency is made of Etinan, Nsit Ibom and Nsit Ubium Local Government Areas.
According to reports, each of the 50 farmers received 100 stands of oil palm seedlings and N100,000 to enhance palm oil production.
In her address, Mrs Nonye Ayeni, NEPC’s Executive Director, said that the Federal Government was committed to empowering citizens in oil palm production business.
Represented by Mr Ben Etegbe, the South-South Regional Coordinator, Ayeni said that the empowerment was a deliberate move to position the country as a leading producer of palm oil.
She urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of emerging opportunities in oil palm production, and described it as a lifetime investment.
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The executive director further said that palm oil and its derivatives remained a huge investment opportunity, especially when processed for export.
“It is estimated that as the population of people and industries that use palm oil and its derivatives increase, the demand for palm oil will also increase.
“In Nigeria, palm oil production is an age-long occupation, particularly for the people of South-South and South-East regions.
The business is sometimes passed on from one generation to another,” he said.
Ayeni said that Nigeria currently produced about 1.2 metric tons, which he said was grossly inadequate to satisfy the domestic annual consumption of over 2.5 metric tons.
“Although Nigeria has huge potentials in palm oil to reclaim the leading position in terms of production and export, the potentials are not being harnessed effectively,” she said.
She said that the council would continue to work with critical stakeholders to reposition the industry, and to return Nigeria to being a net exporter of palm oil.
In his remarks, Ekpo thanked NEPC for its commitment to ensuring the success of the empowerment programme for members of his constituency.
Ekpo said that the empowerment programme aimed to step up the palm oil business from local to international market.
“Palm oil production is the mainstay in agriculture, and you have a choice whether to produce and earn in naira or in foreign currency.
“There is something in oil palm that most people do not realise, no part of oil palm is a waste. The oil palm you are seeing today will bring millionaires from among you tomorrow,” he said.
He urged beneficiaries not sell the oil palm seedlings, but to plant them and believe strongly that they would multiply in several folds.