oil palm |
Speaking at the
101-year-old Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute in Medan, Indonesia,
Obaseki said his administration was keen on diversifying the economy of
the state by taking advantage of its oil palm industry.
He stated that
"with the present pace of research in the agriculture sector, palm oil
can replace crude oil as a major source of food, industrial materials
and energy."
Obaseki said
already, discussions are in progress to develop a business case to
reinvigorate the oil palm sector in the state at a commercial level,
after the state delegation was taken through the entire integrated
process of oil palm production and processing.
The Indonesian
research institute is made up of an oil palm plantation, processing
plant, laboratories, nursery and oil palm refining facility.
The governor, who
is accompanied by the state Commissioner for Wealth Creation,
Cooperatives and Employment, Hon. Emmanuel Usoh, and the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kadiri
Bashiru, said the visit would explore the possibility of reaching
agreements with the Indonesian Government to support the development of
the oil palm sector in the state.
Indonesia is
currently the largest exporter of palm oil in the world, and agriculture
sector is the country's most valuable export sector.
The sector of
Indonesia accounted for 32 per cent of the total labour force in 2016
and in 2013, the sector contributed 14.43 per cent to national Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).
In 2014,
Indonesia's production figure for palm oil was 33.5 million tonnes and
the product accounts for 11 per cent of export earnings of $5.7billion.
The choice of
Indonesia for the strategic partnership, according to Obaseki, was
informed by these statistics, including the fact that Indonesia is a
global leader in palm oil export and is followed closely by Malaysia
which came to Benin City to collect oil palm seedlings many years ago,
precisely from the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR).
He promised that
the visit would yield results that the state agriculture sector requires
to create jobs, raw materials for local industries, produce for export
and time-tested research approaches to strengthen institutes like NIFOR
and the College of Agriculture in Iguoriakhi, which is being
repositioned to support the agriculture sector.
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