CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
To The Study
The processing of palm fruit is the most
important processing activity carried on in Nigeria and it is geared towards
accelerating economic development Armstrong, R. (2010). The end products, palm oil and palm kernels,
have traditionally composed 15 to 20 per cent of Nigeria's exports as their
combined value was £40 million years back. In addition, palm fruit which is processed
into palm oil is an important item in the Nigerian diet (as part of the
traditional soup or sauce) and is used as an illuminant, cooking fat, and soap
ingredient Chukwu, A.O (2011). Implicit
production estimates based on marketing board purchases of palm kernels, for
which there is little domestic use, indicate that internal consumption ranges
from 80 to 150 per cent of exports.
Palm
fruit is one of the most important economic oil crops in Nigeria. According to
World Rain-forest Movement, palm fruit
is indigenous to the Nigerian coastal plain though it has migrated inland as a
staple crop. Cultivation of it serves as a means of livelihood for many rural
families and indeed the farming culture of millions of people in the country
thereby contributing to the GDP of the nation. The reference to palm fruit as a
crop of multiple value underscores its economic importance Carrere, T. R.
(2001).
Modern processing of oil palm
fruit bunches into edible oil is practiced using various methods, which may be
grouped into four categories according to their throughput and degree of
complexity Ekine, D. I. and Onu, M. E. (2008).
Generally, processing units
handling up to 2 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per hour are considered to
be small-scale. Installations that process between 3 and 8 tonnes FFB per hour
are termed medium-scale, while large-scale refers to mills that process more
than 10 tonnes per hour. The
Nigerian palm fruit belt covers
twenty-four states, including all nine states of the Niger Delta (Akwa Ibom,
Abia, Rivers, Edo, Imo, Ondo, Bayelsa, Cross River and Delta) Ibrahim, H. M.
and Ramli, A.A. (2011).
Within the palm fruit belt in Nigeria, 80% of
production comes from dispersed smallholders who harvest semi-wild plants and
use manual processing techniques. Several million smallholders are spread over
an estimated area ranging from 1.65 million hectares to 2.4 million hectares
and to a maximum of 3 million hectares. The estimate for palm plantations in
Nigeria ranges from 169,000 hectares (72,000 ha of estate plantations and
97,000 ha of smallholder plantations) to 360,000 hectares of plantations.
Today small-scale processors
who appreciate the value of using machines, are asking for them to be more
sophisticated FAO (2005)..
Thus current demand for
small-scale palm oil mills is shifting from simple stand-alone unit operational
machines to a more integrated system which will in turn boost economic
activities Ibitoye, S.J. and Onje S. O (2013).
Machinery manufacturers have
responded with machines that combine several operations into one machine unit.
The complete range of operational machines – covering bunch stripping, fruit
sterilization, digestion, pressing, clarification, oil drying and storage have
been developed for processing applications. The processors can change and/or
combine equipment to suit their purchasing power.
Machinery manufacturing is a
recent development in the West African sub-region, and until recently it has
not been possible to develop the sophisticated machines required to improve on
traditional methods. Machinery manufacture in Africa must be carefully
considered if progress is to be made in joining the rest of the industrialized
world Kadurumba,
C. and Ume, S.I. (2011).
1.2
Statement Of The Problem
One of the constraints
of economic growth in Nigeria has been the slow development of the agricultural
sector. The performance of the sector was undermined. The role of Palm fruit processing in economic
development cannot be overemphasized. The
emerging problem which constraint the full realization of the potentials in the
palm fruit includes inadequacies in the processing, the supply and delivery,
shortage of working capital, low level of technology, poor post-harvest
processing and shortage etc. There is need for palm fruit processing in Nigeria
to put the economy on the part of sustainable growth and development as a whole
Olagunju, F. I. (2008).
The economic stabilization Act enacted in 1982
affected expenditure on agriculture and restricted income. Indeed, the
contribution of the sector to total GDP has been falling, not
necessarily because a strong industrial sector is displacing agriculture as a
result of low productivity Omereji, G.O. (2005).
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