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• The rapid alert warning report came from the UK Foods Standards Agency in respect of palm oil exports from Ghana to the UK suspected to be contaminated by Sudan IV dye which is dangerous to health.
• For avoidance of doubt, palm oil export from Ghana into the UK or any part of the world has not been banned as it is only the following palm oil that so far carries this dye. The palm oils known to be affected are Blue Bay / Golden Sun / Jumbo Zomi / Tropical Sun Zomi / Praise and those distributed by Macphilips Foods Ltd . These are contaminated with the harmful dye which is considered to be a genotoxic carcinogen - see links to Food Standard Agency website below for full exporters details.
• With respect to the production and sale of palm oil on the local market, the statement said the GSB and GFDB were currently conducting investigations to establish whether any palm oil put up for sale on the domestic market had been contaminated.
• The statement reminded producers and exporters of oil palm that under Ghana's existing food standards established by the GSB, Sudan IV dye was not a permitted food colour addictive since it represented a serious health hazard if consumed in sufficient quantities.
• These products do not meet the food safety requirements specified in the Food Safety Act 1990 due to their contamination with Sudan IV.
• As such enforcement officials were informed to, if necessary, use powers under the Food Safety Act1990 to ensure that these products were withdrawn from sales outlets and destroyed.
• The source also revealed that both Jumbo Ltd and Wanis Ltd have so far undertaken trade withdrawals and have displayed point of sale notices in their retail outlets in London, while local authorities have been asked to consider providing local publicity on the issue.

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Ghana - PSI on oil palm to yield $90 million - January 2004

The President’s Special Initiative (PSI) on oil palm plantation and exports is expected to yield about $90 million in export revenue within the short term. The first phase of 100,000 hectares of oil palm is expected to produce 300,000 tonnes of palm oil a year at an export price of about $300,000 a tonne.

According to an official government document, 6,700 hectares of land had been cultivated leading to the employment of more that 27,000 farmers.The PSI on oil palm is projected to put under cultivation 100,000 hectares of new oil palm plantation to meet domestic demand. This is expected to increase to 300,000 hectares in subsequent years to meet the demand in the West African sub-region.

Government has commissioned the Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) to produce two million oil palm germinated seeds annually for the PSI on oil palm project. So far the government has invested a total of ¢18.1 billion in 12 pre-nursery operations with various capacities.

According to government sources, four more operators would be added during the course of the year while six existing nurseries would be upgraded.In the long term, the PSI on oil palm is expected to generate an export revenue of $1.6 billion annually and employ about 1.2 million people.

The nurseries are located in the Central, Western, Eastern, Ashanti, and Brong Ahafo regions while the Volta region is among the regions to have the four new plantations to be included this year.The nurseries include B & N Farms, Norpalm, MAOPP, Ayiem Oil Mills, Obooma Mills and Akotosu farms. Others are Agyepong Farms & Co, Sarpcoe, Juaben Oil Mills and ROHANA, OPRI.

It is estimated that there is an external market for 2.6 million tonnes of crude oil palm and oil palm-based products a year. The country, however, produces only 800,000 tonnes annually.Under the PSI on oil palm, the industry is expected to yield $1.6 billion over the next 10 years from investment in milling and facilitate the establishment of 30 vegetable oil refining facilities, among other things.

Oil palm is a crop that provides multiple outputs and it is the only plant whose fruit produces two types of oil- palm oil and palm kennel oil.Oil is an input in industrial production of non-dairy creams, ice-cream powder, salad dressing, fat spread and chocolate.

Its substitute, stearine, is traded as a substitute in the formulation of soaps, detergents, margarine and baking fat. Palm oil is a rich source of vitamins A, D and E, which are rich and indispensable in the pharmaceutical industry.

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German Development Bank Boosts Okomu Oil Palm With 4.5m Euros - October 2003

DEG, the German Development Bank, has provided Okomu Oil Palm PLC, based in Nigeria, with 4.5 million Euros for its expansion programmes. Mr. Gbenga Oyebode chairman of the company stressed that the fund would enable the company to consolidate on its success, build for the future, enlarge plantations and diversify into rubber.

Mr. Oyebode, said the first phase of the development of its facilities involved the planting of 6,000 hectares of palm oil on former forest reserve land, the construction of a mill capable of processing 20 tons of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) per hour and the provision of necessary infrastructures. He said that from 2006, Okomu will export rubber of up to 10,000 tons per year with a current value of $10 million.

According to the latest plan, by 2007 the total Palm Oil area will be 12,750 hectares and 6,250 hectares for Rubber, with two palm oil mills and one rubber factory in operation.

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Facing Palm Oil Scarcity: Small producers Want to Take Up the Challenge - September 2003

The Cameroon Union of Palm Oil Producers who, today, represents over 550 farmers, working on about 15,000 hectares of land, is set to reverse the falling production in Cameroon’s palm oil. The present shortage is due to internal demand which has been greater than supply. The inability to meet demand is said to be due to ageing plants which were planted in the 60’s and have not been replaced, liberalisation and poor harvest.

The Cameroon Union of Palm Oil Producers believes that small scale producers can best succeed with the help of the government providing fertilisers, construction of farm-to-market roads, and financing of production. The government has announced a new plan for October this year which will permit farmers to create 3740 hectares of plantations in the East, North West and some parts of the West.

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Degraded Mining Lands to Be Turned Into Oil Palm Plantations - Septmeber 2003

The Ghanaian government is looking into the possibility of turning about 230,000 hectares out of 640,000 hectares of degraded mining lands for the cultivation of palm oil under the President's Special Initiative (PSI) on palm oil. Mr. Kwamina Bartels, Minister of Private Sector Development, made the announcement at the end of his two-day tour of the Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP) in the Central Region and the Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP) in the Western Region.

Mr. Bartels said 300,000 hectares of land are to be cultivated with palm oil and that the Western, Central, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and Volta regions had been selected for the PSI on Palm Oil.

He said so far the government had sunk 22 billion cedis into raising 12 high yielding palm oil nurseries for the supply of two million seedlings to farmers who have prepared lands for cultivation.

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Ghana- Palm Oil Production

The Ghanaian region has a rich supply of land suitable for palm oil cultivation with a belt stretching from Dunkwa-on-offin in the north-west, to the Assin Fosu and Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese district, Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam and finally the Breman Asikuma in the east.

There are approximately 28,700 acres of palm oil under cultivation in the region. Nearly 2,000 farmers are engaged in palm oil production with the largest holding of almost 23,172 acres being found in the Twifo-Hemang Lower Denkyira district.

TOPP (Twifo Oil Palm Plantation ltd) is the largest single holder with 10,700 acres (4,280 hectares). As part of their out growers scheme, about 5,000 hectares of existing farms will be cultivated in the near future. About 70% of the existing plantations in the region are still very young with some being in their second and third years of production. Peak production is often expected around the tenth year of production.

The annual output from the Central Region is estimated at 64,548 tons of fresh fruit bunches.

The mill at TOPP is the largest in the West Africa sub-region and has a processing capacity of 20 tonnes of fresh fruits bunches an hour.

There are also small scale oil extraction enterprises dotted over all the palm oil production districts in the region. These include Asikima-Odoben-Brakwa, Assin, Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam and Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese. These small-scale enterprises produce mainly for the local market for both domestic and industrial consumption.