Oil palm sector in Africa
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is a perennial plant endemic to Africa, which exists in wild, semi-wild and cultivated states in equatorial tropics of Africa, South-east Asia and America. In Africa' the oil palm sector comprises industrial plantations and numerous smallholders. Whether considered as farmers owning relatively small natural stands of oil palm or small planters of improved Tenera in comparison to estates, smallholders in Africa have, for all the time, paid attention to the development of oil palm with regards to the income generated by sales of palm oil and palm kernels, the supply of oil for household consumption and that of many other oil palm products. From the 1960?s to the end of the 1980?s, smallholders (small planters of improved tenera) were complied with the respect of production standards (monoculture) since their smallholdings were established with credit-based seeds and fertilizers. The disappearance of these loans at the end of the 1990?s led to integrating oil palm in the family agriculture system marked by intercropping with other food or/and cash crops. This new system of production shows some potentialities and secures the long-term development of smallholdings. The contribution of smallholdings to the total hectares planted varies from 0 percent of total hectares planted in Central African Republic to 70 percent in Côte d'Ivoire (mean = 47 percent). Smallholdings contribute to African crude palm oil production, and accounts for a considerable proportion of African non-industrial palm oil production. However, the smallholders need assistance from the state and to self-organize in cooperatives to overcome many constraints that limit oil palm profitability and the increase of national production of oils from oil palm. Some efforts are needed from the African industrial plantations to make them competitive in the international market of vegetable oils.
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| Formato: | Digital revista |
| Idioma: | spa |
| Publicado em: |
Fedepalma
2007
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| Acesso em linha: | https://publicaciones.fedepalma.org/index.php/palmas/article/view/1314 |
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