31/07/2013 (Nigerian Tribune) - Cross River State lost the bulk of its oil wells and subsequently huge resources to Cameroun sequel to the ceding of Bakassi to the country in 2008. It also lost 176 oil wells to the neighbouring Akwa Ibom State in 2012. But the state is no longer moaning its losses because it has already found succour in another oil as a collaboration between two companies, PZ Cussons and Wilmar International to produce PZ Wilmar Joint Venture is set to make the state the leading palm oil producer in the country.

The collaboration has resulted in the acquisition of the 5,500-hectare Calaro Oil Palm Estate from the Cross River State government, the 12,805-hectare Kwa Falls Oil Palm Plantation from Obasanjo Farms, the 5,450-hectare Ibiae Oil Palm Estate and an 8,000-hectare estate in Biase. But the company is looking beyond its current capacity as it targets 50,000 hectares by 2017/2018.

Aside from growing palm trees in the state, the company also plans to establish a palm oil mill with a capacity of 1,200 to 1,500 tons per day in Cross River to position the state to benefit from the value addition accruing from the enterprise.

While conducting journalists round the plantations, the General Manager, Mr Lee, said apart from the joint venture’s ambitious plan to increase its capacity, it was also working with the state government to encourage local farmers to join hands with it in making the state the numero uno in palm oil plantation and production.

He explained, “We are working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Cross Rivers State to implement a palm out-growers scheme, which would be promoted under the Cross River Agriculture and Rural Empowerment Scheme. The aim is to develop a symbiotic arrangement between small scale farmers and PZ Wilmar Joint Venture for the purpose of self-support and to enhance local capacity through the transfer of world class technical skills to local farmers.”

The out-growers will receive technical support from the company in form of improved seedlings and guidance on how to get the best yields from their farms. They are also assured of a ready market for their produce as PZ Wilmar will buy whatever they produce. The two parties benefit from the arrangement as the company’s dream of increasing its capacity is realised while the farmers also smile to the bank.   

Lee added that the scheme would give local producers access to the milling facilities which would improve extraction of oil from their fruits as well as increasing their quality and yield.

The General Manager further said that, “Over 600,000 high yield palm plants have been transplanted with 2.1 million of seedlings at our four nursery sites across the site within a palm nursery.”

He explained that the seedlings used were the best in the world from Malaysia and Indonesia, adding that they would start fruiting at 30 months and would be ready for harvesting a while after. He added that the palm trees would yield fruits for between 25 and 30 years.

Lee said that after the company procured the estates it realised that the existing palm trees were too old, some of them having been planted in the 1950s, and were no longer yielding optimally. So, they had to be felled and replaced.

“The trees were too old and they were not the best in terms of genetic quality, so we had to replace them. They were producing between five and six tonnes of fresh fruit bunches per hectare and that was by far too low compared to up to 30 tonnes of fresh fruits bunches that are obtainable from the trees we are now planting,” he said.

Speaking on how the manpower requirement challenge was being tackled, he said a training school had been established in the plantation to provide on-hand training for those interested in pursuing a career in plantation management.

According to him, the fully residential training programme lasts six months during which trainees are taken through the rudiments of farming and plantation management.

He explained that the third set of trainees would be rounding off their programme in August, adding that all the graduates of the scheme had been absorbed by the company and were still working with it save one who opted out due to personal reasons.

One of the trainees, a graduate of Political Science from Imo State who had his NYSC in Cross River State, said he was informed about the PZ Wilmar training programme when he was about to complete his youth service and he applied since he had always been interested in farming. He said he was looking forward to a fulfilling career in the company after the completion of his training.

To make life easy for workers in the plantation since many of them reside there, the company has a clinic in place just as there is a public primary school situated in the plantation. It is also building eco-friendly staff quarters to augment the ones it inherited while there are plans underway to construct recreational facilities for the staff.

Talking about the plan of the company to maintain a good relationship with its host communities, Mr Ho Dye Joan, Wilmar International’s Plantation Head for West Africa, said the company was working hard to ensure that the interest of the host communities are protected.

According to Joan, some of the envisaged challenges include adopting an environmentally sustainable plantation and the need to effectively manage social and community-related challenges. He, however, said the company was poised to overcome all the challenges through its proactive approach.  
He said that the company had paid all that it ought to pay to its host communities and has provided many of the indigenes employment opportunities. He pointed out that the company’s objective of “producing palm products at the lowest cost adopting sustainable plantation, agronomy and management practices in plantation development and operation” could only be realised if it had a peaceful environment to operate in.

He added that the company had also been involved in Corporate Social Responsibility to endear itself to its host communities.

While addressing journalists in Lagos a few weeks back, the Chief Executive Officer of PZ Cussons, Mr. Christos Giannopoulos, said PZ Wilmar Joint Venture was formed with the vision of helping to bring palm oil home to Nigeria. He had added, “The ambition is to help revive the palm oil industry in Nigeria where the palm plants are indigenous. This will contribute significantly to addressing the current national shortage of palm oil, creating new markets and income for local industry and communities and thousands of potential job opportunities. We have set out to achieve this by investing in new plantation and refining facilities to world class standards resulting in significant job creation, production of quality, healthy cooking ingredients and supporting and facilitating the development of local agriculture and industry in addition with the government’s 2020 vision, through investment, education and collaboration.”

Mr Giannopoulos, who was in company with the Managing Director, Wilmar Limited, Mr. Santosh Pillai, at the briefing, added that the vision of the joint venture is to ensure 100 per cent local production of palm oil products. Tagged ‘From plantation to plate’, the collaboration would result in planting the oil palms, refining and developing same into cooking ingredients within the country.

According to Giannopoulos, PZ Wilmar would be investing about N100billion in the project over the next few years and, in the process, create 12,000 direct jobs and over 33,000 indirect jobs at various skill levels.

The PZ CEO said the company was at the verge of completing a N10billion refinery in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

 “The refinery will process crude palm oil in the most hygienic way to fill the significant demand gap in the Nigerian market. We are also developing a range of branded healthy, authentic palm oil-based cooking ingredients to meet the current needs of the Nigerian consumer. This gap is currently filled by imported finished products smuggled into the country,” Giannopoulos said.

“Nigeria’s production is only 1.3 million and is a net importer of 700,000 tons to meet the national shortage. It is our conviction that opening the competitive space will, in the short and long run, be for the benefit of the country.

“Our refinery is capable of processing 1,000 tonnes per day. It incorporates world class, high efficiency technology, combining the best expertise from PZ Cussons and Wilmar International in manufacturing and palm production. The oil that is produced from our world class refinery will always be 100 per cent pure. We will be launching a wide range of consumer packs to suit all budgets. Now, every Nigerian mother can take pride in greater tasting family meals every time,” Giannopoulos added.

Expounding further on the benefits of the project, the PZ CEO said the initiative was in alignment with the country’s 2020 transformation plan of the country and had already drawn a foreign direct investment to the tune of $650million. He added that the PZ Wilmar Joint Venture “is a beacon project for global-scale investment into Nigeria.”

The benefits to the community, he said, would include employment generation, technology and skills transfer and local farming development by empowering and educating communities to improve palm husbandry techniques, yields and income.

The consumer will have access to safe, reliable and affordable cooking ingredients produced to world class standards, he said.