Lack of access to fertiliser hampering palm oil cultivation

Lack of access to fertilisers has been identified as a major factor hampering the cultivation of oil palm crop in the country, Dr. Thomas Fairhurst, an international field agronomist, has observed.

"Our take home is how to improve the fertiliser supply chain up to the farm gate. If Ghana invests in an improved fertiliser supply chain, it is going to improve all sectors including cocoa and other crop-growers and so on.

 "Fertiliser is the driver, and we know that when we study the soil analysis data we can see very clearly that the soil in the oil palm belt is deficient in some nutrients. So do not let anybody convince you that this can be done with organic farming.”

Dr. Fairhurst made this known at a Sustainable West Africa Palm-oil Programme (SWAPP) organised by Solidaridad, a not-for profit organisation that is interested in developing small- and medium-scale producers to be sustainable and profitable. 

The workshop was aimed at developing the oil palm sector -- a sector dominated by small-scale farmers -- to be more productive and profitable. 

It brought together various practitioners in the value chain ranging from agronomists to oil palm farmers to share success stories of the best management practice approaches in oil palm agronomy to increase productivity and sustainability.

Approximately 305,700 hectares of oil palm plantation is being cultivated nationwide, and an additional 20,000 hectares of farmland is needed to meet the local demand.

In 2010, oil palm processing groups projected a production output of 260,000 metric tonnes of palm oil, which indicates a deficit of 35,000 metric tonnes -- leaving government with no option but to spend US$100million annually on importation of oil palm to make up for the deficit.

An estimated unmet demand of oil palm in the ECOWAS sub-region is between 850,000 and 1,000,000 metric tonnes annually, a huge market the country can take advantage of if properly managed.

The country is said to have a total area of 305,758 hectors of oil palm. More than 80 percent of this is cultivated by private small-scale farmers who mostly use varieties of unimproved planting material.  This has contributed to the very low productivity in the Ghanaian oil palm industry.

The rising trend in international demand has been precipitated by increasing demand for palm oil in bio-fuel activities.

Crude Petroleum Price determinants continue to push upward pressure on the price, and demand for crude palm oil (CPO) is steadily rising in India, China, Europe and America for bio-fuel. In view of this development, investors have been diverting their investment portfolios into CPO.