The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, at the weekend flagged off the second phase of the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP) with about 50,000 hectares of land at Okogbo Community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the State.
Obaseki, who led over 20 new oil palm investors in the State to perform the ceremonial planting at Okogbo Community, said the commencement of the second phase followed the impact and success recorded in the first phase of the programme which has repositioned the State as the number one sub-national with the largest oil palm development programme in Africa.
Obaseki said, “We are here with new investors in the ESOPP Phase 2 Programme. After Phase One was launched over two years ago, we are launching ESOPP Phase 2 with a new set of investors to offtake almost 50,000 hectares of land for oil palm development. ESOPP Phase 1 covered 70,000 hectares of land. We are here on a tour to see what those we have given land to have done with the land and to show those who have applied to participate in this programme what their expectations are.
“When we came into office in 2016, we decided to undertake a forest audit in 2017 to investigate the level of degradation of our vegetation in Edo State and found out that our forest reserves have been heavily deforested and many of them degraded. We decided to make those areas we could not re-forest available for oil palm investors because it’s a high-yielding crop that will help conserve the environment.
“In launching the oil palm programme, we decided to go through all the challenges that investors will go through. We looked at all issues from land allocation, consents from the community, infrastructural challenges, commitment to community, and right planting materials.”
He added, “The role of government in agriculture is to help de-risk and reduce the risk for investors and that is the purpose of the ESOPP programme and the government intervening in the oil palm programme.
“It also supports food production as between now and when the plants become big trees, the land is available for mixed crops to ensure food production for the society.”
On his part, the Project Director, Saro Oil Palm, Dr. Tunde Faturoti thanked the governor for creating a conducive and safe environment to encourage the influx of investors and ensure business growth.
He stated, “We are in one of the sites of ESOPP, we are turning waste to wealth. We are here to plant high-yielding oil palm to drive economic growth and check environmental degradation.”
