FACTORS AFFECTING OIL PALM PRODUCTION IN ONDO STATE OF NIGERIA

Thesis Overview

<p> <b>INTRODUCTION&nbsp;</b></p><p>The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is one of the important economic crops in the tropics (Anyanwu; Anyanwu and Anyanwu, 1982). It belongs to the family palmae (having 225 genera with over 2600 species), and the subfamily cocoideae of which it is the most important member (Opeke, 1987). The oil palm is a versatile tree crop with almost all parts of the tree being useful and of economic value. The principal product of oil palm is the palm fruit, which is processed to obtain three commercial products. These include palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake. The uses of palm oil are many and varied (Adegbola; Are; Ashaye &amp; Komolafe, 1979). Locally, it is used for cooking, soap making, metal plating and lamp oil. The palm kernel oil however, is used for soap making, as a source of glycerine, for manufacturing margarine, cooking fats and for making lubricants. The residue obtained after extraction of oil is called kernel cake, which is useful in livestock feed production. The midribs and rachis of oil palm are used for making brooms and roofing materials. The thicker leaf stalk is used for making the walls of village huts. The bark of the frond is peeled and woven into baskets while the trunk (main stem) can be split and used as supporting frames in buildings. A sap tapped from the male flower is drunk as palm wine, which is a source of yeast. The spent fruit bunch and fibre that remains after oil extraction can be used for mulching, as manure and as fuel.&nbsp;</p><p>The development of the economic oil palm had continued to attract the attention of various administrations in Nigeria since the colonial period to date. This was not unconnected with its economic importance as a very important source of edible and technical oils of a huge National revenue earning potentials. Palm oil and palm kernel oil, the major products of oil palm, were once very vital to Nigeria’s export trade as Nigeria was a leading producer of oil palm produce in the world. However, since 1965, there has been a noticeable decline in her oil palm production (Mgbeje, 2004). By 1966, other competing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia became leading producers as their production surpassed Africa’s total palm oil production. As Nigeria plans to reclaim its leading position as the world’s largest producer of palm oil that it lost to Malaysia over three decades ago (Atser, 2007), the study, therefore, aims at identifying the factors affecting oil palm production in the study area. The primary objective of the study is to determine the factors affecting oil palm production in predominantly oil palm producing areas of Ondo state of Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:&nbsp;</p><p>i. determine the personal characteristics of the oil palm farmers in the study area.&nbsp;</p><p>ii. determine the factors affecting oil palm production in the study area.&nbsp;</p><p>iii. identify the number of sources of extension services available to oil palm farmers in the study area.&nbsp;</p><p>iv. investigate if oil palm farmers in the study area are involved in any farmers’ group activities. <br></p><p> <b>RESEARCH METHODOLOGY</b></p><p>&nbsp;The study area is in Ondo state of Nigeria. One hundred and fifty respondents were selected from predominantly oil&nbsp;palm producing areas through purposive sampling technique. The state was stratified into three subgroups or strata according to the three major ecological zones. Only the rainforest and the derived savannah zones were purposively selected for the study. This was because the mangrove swamp zone does not have substantial oil palm but raphia palm. It thus was purposively eliminated, leaving two ecological zones. The purposive sampling technique was used to obtain data for the study through the use of structured questionnaires. For the forest zone, two predominant oil palm producing L.G.As were purposively picked out of the 11 L.G.As contained in the zone. The total number of villages in each of these L.G.As purposively picked was determined and 10% of these villages were purposively selected based on predominant production of oil palm which served as the sample size for the zone. Likewise, for the savanna zone, one predominant oil palm producing L.G.A was purposively picked out of the four L.G.As contained in the zone i.e. 10% of 4, which is 0.4 approximated to one . The total number of villages in this L.G.A was determined and 10% of these villages were purposively selected based on predominant production of oil palm in the zone. The final step involved purposively sampling of oil palm farmers from the sample area. Fifty oil palm farmers were purposively selected from each of the three selected L.G.As making a total of 150 oil palm farmers selected purposively. Fifty questionnaires&nbsp; were administered in each of the predominant oil palm producing L.G.As purposively selected making a total of one-hundred and fifty farmers that gave their responses. The data collected was analyzed with the aid of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, means, standard deviation and percentages were used to analyze and summarize the data. Inferential statistics such as chi-square, Pearson correlation and T-test were used to determine the significance of the relationship among the selected variables compared and to test the differences between groups of variable. In addition, regression analysis was used to determine the significance of relationships of several factors perceived to affect yield of oil palm in the study. </p>