Oil palm in Africa: an opportunity too good to miss?
After becoming Southeast Asia’s second-largest crop, oil palm is heading to Africa on an industrial scale, and a wave of high-profile investments have raised concerns on the environmental impacts of this expansion. Understanding the opportunities for oil palm in the African context is key to ensuring that oil-palm expansion develops more sustainably.
The total area planted with oil palm has increased rapidly worldwide in the last 30 years, from 4 million hectares (ha) in the 1980s to more than 17 million in 2013. For the past decade, oil palm has therefore been a hot topic of debate in academic and non-academic circles. As a reader you may have already encountered this discussion in the news [1], or seen the striking campaigns by many advocacy groups [2] that question the social and environmental impacts of the dramatic expansion of oil-palm industry, especially in Southeast Asia.
Evironmental concerns over profitable investments
Despite the constant bad press given the potential environmental impacts of oil-palm expansion on forests and biodiversity, interest in oil palm is increasing from governments and private sectors in other regions, such as Western and Central Africa. They argue that because of its high profitability, one of the highest among the global agro-commodity sector, oil palm can provide much-needed investments in infrastructure, public services and job opportunities in rural areas, many of which are not suitable for other crops.
However, numerous conservation and environmental organizations [3], as well as academics [4], have raised concerns regarding the wave of oil-palm investments on the African continent, due to the history of environmental degradation caused by oil-palm expansion in Southeast Asia. The situation is more worrying because of the limited efficacy of many of the current sustainability initiatives in the oil-palm industry. In Indonesia and Malaysia, at the heart of the global efforts to stop deforestation, oil palm remains one of the main drivers of forest loss [5], threatening the survival of thousands of species.
Oil palm’s homecoming to Africa
Large-scale agriculture of this crop was first developed in Southeast Asia, where the international palm-oil trade now plays a central role in the national economies of Malaysia and Indonesia. The oil-palm tree, however, is native to western Africa, where it was first domesticated 5,000 years ago. It is reported that considerable areas exist on this continent, but oil-palm production there remains mostly artisanal and for local consumption. This situation, however, may be a key opportunity for the sustainable development of the oil-palm sector in this region.
For instance, let’s take Nigeria, where up to 2 million ha are reported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) [6] to be planted with oil palm. This is a considerable area, and even though it may not be comparable to the 7 million ha planted in Indonesia, it is still globally significant. The interesting fact is that for Nigeria, the FAO reports an average yield of 2.5 tons per ha, which is equivalent to 15% of the average yield obtained by producers in Southeast Asia. This situation is not unique to Nigeria. Overall, countries in Africa seem to have 50% lower oil-palm yields than their Southeast Asian or South American counterparts, even though in theory their yield potential should be approximately equivalent. Although these figures are probably very coarse, they indicate that there is lot of potential to increase oil-palm production by closing this yield gap – an opportunity that may allow the oil-palm industry in Africa to realize its production aspirations while minimizing its environmental impact.
Filling in the knowledge gaps
To realize this opportunity, there are some knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. The first step is the characterization of existing oil-palm plantations: mapping their locations and quantifying their extension and production levels. Secondly, to estimate the real potential for yield improvement, we need to understand current production systems in these areas; this can be done by assessing the suitability of the land to this crop, the different farmers’ management practices and the role of this crop in their livelihoods. Filling in these knowledge gaps will provide the foundation for developing adequate policy frameworks that can meet production targets and benefit existing producers. Mapping current locations of oil-palm plantations and using sustainability criteria to assess the suitability of the land for oil-palm expansion can facilitate future spatial plans for oil-palm expansion, and minimize its impact on habitats that provide important ecosystem services and act as refuges for biodiversity.
Oil palm might indeed be economically beneficial for African countries, but perhaps the most valuable opportunity for oil-palm expansion on this continent is for nations to forge their own socially and environmentally responsible expansion programmes, tailored to their climatic conditions, agricultural systems, livelihood aspirations, and biophysical landscapes. This is an opportunity that many of their counterparts in Southeast Asia missed.
This blog post was co-written by Janice Ser Huay Lee.
References
[1] Tages-Anzeiger externe Seite article, Guardian externe Seite article
[2] Campaign: externe Seite Example
[3] A externe Seite Policy Statement from the Section on Great Apes (SGA) of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group
[4] Wich, S. A., et al. (2014). "Will Oil Palm's Homecoming Spell Doom for Africa's Great Apes?" Current Biology 24(14): 1659–1663.
[5] Abood, S. A., et al. (2014). “Relative contributions of the logging, fiber, oil palm and mining industries to forest loss in Indonesia”. Conservation Letters. doi: 10.1111/conl.12039
[6] FAO, Statistics division. externe Seite http://faostat.fao.org/ Accessed 27.09.2014
Kommentare
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Dear Tim, Glad that we find a common interesting ground to discuss. So, in short here is my problem or "fear" for the small scale farmers. How will they be able to resist against the short term money making instead of longer term thinking about exports. This is related to the particular terrible situation of crude oil exploration and basically stealing it from the Nigerian people. Now we read that China and others are doing the last land grabbing for their needs in many places in Africa. How will this happen in Nigeria. Perhaps you have first hand information about exploitation of farmers and poor (ex farmers) in Nigeria. News like that I find rather disturbing in country where slavery and poverty is widely spread: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/143367-nigeria-to-supply-china-with-3-2m-tonnes-of-dry-cassava-chips-minister.htmlcall_made So this is the relation to the similarity of the oil sector I see. A few profit and most get the environmental disaster. "And I still don't get why this has anything to do with Nigerias crude oil..." Finally, I am convinced that for Nigeria's people and their future fruit forests, including palm oil trees, would fit their needs much better than palm oil monocultures. see for example here http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Nigeria-AGRICULTURE.htmlcall_made "Bread, made primarily from US wheat, replaced domestic crops as the cheapest staple food for much of the urban population."
I guess now I got the reason why we disagree... You are interpreting the policy suggestion as a suggestion to Nigeria, while I'm thinking about goals for European Palm Oil buyers and development organizations... So if decision makers in Nigeria would care about their country, yes, crude oil export and large scale palm oil plantations should be massively controlled. (That is a big "IF" there). But if a European Palm Oil buyer or development organization would like to have a positive impact, an investment into small-holder intensification can be a good idea. I believe COOP for example has been looking for such projects for a while, not sure if they found something yet.
Dear Tim, Obviously, I like especially the end of your reply. But, lets agree about facts first: (if you disagree with the Wikipedia numbers and have better one, let me know) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_oilcall_made there is a hole list (including references) about palm oil producers, who profits and about its side effects on health for consumers. The disaster deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia is well documented as well. ok Nigeria, Wikipedia links the World Bank article and the NYT "reply" The World Bank’s Palm Oil Mistake (very much in favour of Palm oil projects) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/opinion/16ayodele.html?_r=2&call_made;src=sch&pagewanted=all& they write: ``Yes, Nigeria has a problem with deforestation — but that is primarily in the country’s north, and almost all palm oil plantations are in the south. The forest depletion in the north is generally due to climate problems and the population’s reliance on firewood for fuel." Strange enough that the crude oil richness of Nigeria is not even mentioned. The little amount of palm oil imported compared to the oil exported .. a joke! Despite its oil, Nigeria is a country of extreme poverty, (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeriaworldcall_made for example) 2.3 million ha could be used better! (reforestation with fruit forests for example, would solve many more problems). Sustainable palm oil production? following Malaysia etc? I don't think so!
I think we already agree on the facts, making this conversation more interesting than many others on this blog :-) Palm oil actually grows on trees => the 2.3 million ha ARE ALREADY under smallholder cultivation in Nigeria and thus currently covered by trees, so there is no need for reforestation there. (In other areas of Nigeria, yes!). The wiki article is very mixed regarding consumer health - but palm is definitly not worse than trans fats, which it subsititutes. There is a world of a difference between Golden Agri Resources growing Palm Oil and African small holders growing it. All the references how horrible palm is refer to GAR and the like. The big socio-environmental impact are caused by clearcutting for new plantations - something which I never promoted, quite to the contrary. The idea promoted by me (and John & Janice) is to support the existing small holder plantations to increase productivity. Of course, consuming less vegetable oil is always a good idea. And I still don't get why this has anything to do with Nigerias crude oil...
Thanks John & Janice for pushing those facts into the public space. To add a bit more economic view: Unfortunatly the current major sustainable palm oil purchasing program (the RSPO) only targets "old" plantations (as those are not considered responsible for deforestation). To be effective and additional, a sustainable palm oil label should instead reward initatives that increase the yield for such low-productivity African locations without deforestation. Or - in other words - in a world of growing demand, sustainable palm oil can only come from an increase in production on existing land.
There is nothing inherently unsustainable about palm oil. As John has pointed out in the article, it is actually a very productive oil crop. Producers cannot make growing demand go away, so when looking at sustainability from the production side, that's simply an outside fact. Once you accepted that production will be going up one way or the other, it makes a lot of sense to utilize land that is already deforested more efficiently, e.g. going from the 2.5 tons per hectare in Nigeria to the 16 or so of a high-yield plantation. Maybe a little background: If you purchase a ton of "sustainable palm oil" today, what you get is any palm oil + a certificate that a plantation somewhere on the planet that is not on recently deforested land produced a ton of palm oil. As there are way more such plantations than demand for sustainable palm oil, the certificates have almost zero cost and zero impact on deforestation. My quotation was meant as a criticism of this "green palm" mechanism. If you want to improve sustainability, the palm oil has to come from increased yield on existing agricultural land. Using palm oil (which is an edible oil, primarily used for food & also cosmetics) as substitute for crude oil is a different topic entirely, and actually an idea that I personally consider rather insane.
How can a world which is unsustainable today, and which has a growing demand can become sustainable by using and growing more unsustainable stuff? (The only way forward towards sustainability for Nigeria would be to stop exporting crude oil.. and reforest the land with perhaps fruit-forests. ``Or - in other words - in a world of growing demand, sustainable palm oil can only come from an increase in production on existing land."
Compared to other sources of plant oil palm oil provides the highest yield per hectare, up to 10 times better than soya or sunflower. This speaks for palm oil, but the fact that worldwide 17 million hectares (1/4 the area of germany) are used for palm oil plantations also means that mankind uses a lot of land for agriculture. The lower yield in africa compared to asia is unfortunate, but typical: Africa has generally low crop yields compared to asia. The so called green revolution has not yet arrived in Africa. According to the latest UNO-population projections Africa's population can grow to 4 billion people until the year 2100. This also means, that agricultural yield must improve in africa in order to nourish its people. Africa must wake up, in order to succeed.