Prior to the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in Nigeria, palm oil was a major agricultural export crop and a top foreign exchange earner for the country in the 1950s and 1960s. Nigeria was the largest producer of palm oil in the world but has fallen to the fifth position with an average production of 1.4 million metric tonnes. In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Okomu oil plantation agriculture coordinator, Billy Ghansah, speaks on the effects of climate change on oil palm production in Nigeria.
PT: How is climate change affecting palm oil production?
Ghansah: Climate change is affecting oil palm production in two ways. Oil palm needs a lot of water and we are not getting enough of it. The rainfall pattern has changed. We have fewer days of rainfall and the bulk of it is very intense but when it is intense you don’t get what you need. You need more days of rainfall than less days of rainfall. Also, the elongated dry season; that has an impact on our…
