On a bright Tuesday morning in May, Fidelis Ekpo, a farmer, sat on a wooden chair, attending to a small heap of palm fruits. With a metallic rod in his right hand, he beat one thorny stalk after the other to extract their fleshy fruits. Less than 1000 metres away, a woman waited for the fruits at the local grinding mill, where they would be steamed in the final oil extraction process.
As Mr Ekpo hit the bunches with his rod, the fermented palm fruits flew in different directions.
“This is not how it used to be in the past,” the farmer recalled, rubbing sweat droplets from his face with the back of his hands.
“The weather really affected our production this year. About three to four years ago, everywhere was filled up because of the friendly weather condition then. But the weather pattern has changed, so we don’t have good yields as we used to.”
Popularly known as “Bush Bishop or Ete oil” —a name he earned from his industry in palm cultivation and production…