The Market-Oriented Agriculture Programme in North-Western Ghana (MOAP NW) has organised the 2nd Agribusiness Fair and Conference in Wa under the theme, “Boosting the Agribusiness Potential of North-Western Ghana”.
MOAP NW is one of the key pillars of the EU Ghana Agriculture Programme (EU-GAP). The European Union supports the agriculture sector with over EUR 145 million, thus contributing to higher annual incomes of smallholder farmers’ households and secured permanent jobs along the supported value chains.
The event was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council (UWRCC).
Welcoming both on-site and virtual participants at the event, the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, remarked that “the theme is apt and cannot be overemphasized as agriculture has over the years been the driving force behind the economic growth of Ghana and for the fact that there is a shift in focus from aid to trade to drive Ghana’s development agenda”.
In the keynote address delivered on behalf of the Minister of Food and Agriculture, the Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate (PPMED), Mr Richard Twumasi-Ankrah, noted that “the agriculture sector of Ghana needs to be transformed to trigger the socio-economic development of the nation, to achieve the objective of providing a lifeline for millions of households in terms of food and jobs”. He also called for more investments through agribusiness in the northwest of Ghana. “Collaboration and partnerships among stakeholders are paramount in harnessing the agribusiness potential of the programme area. This will also require more investment facilitation through complementary roles and responsibilities of all partners in the sector”.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the European Union (EU), the EU Deputy of Delegation to Ghana, Mr Pieter Smidt Van Gelder, highlighted the role of the EU and its partners in the promotion of agricultural development in Ghana. “The conference of today provides a platform to exchange views and experience on the challenges and opportunities of the agriculture sector in Northern Ghana,” he said.
The GIZ Country Director emphasised the strong partnership between the Government of Ghana, the EU and the German Government. “This crucial cooperation will improve capacity development and thus income-generating opportunities for various groups, especially women and the youth.” So far, 1,536 jobs have been created since 2018 through MOAP NW’s interventions.
The two-day event also comprised a grand exhibition and fair of agribusiness products and services, as well as agrotechnology displayed by over 30 exhibitors. The participating businesses also established B2B contacts and network linkages to foster growth.
In attendance also were the Overlord of Wala Traditional Area, Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV, the Upper West Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr Emmanuel Sasu-Yeboah, Team Leader for MOAP NW, Dr Elke Stumpf, private and public agribusiness partners and virtual participants from all over Ghana.
Chief Cocoa farmer in Huni Valley in the Western Region, Nana Boakye has projected that the country’s cocoa-growing ability will reduce drastically if measures are not put in place to make cocoa farming attractive to the youth.
Including himself, most cocoa farmers have asserted that they will not allow their children to venture into cocoa farming whilst some of the children themselves upon seeing the suffering of their parents, have shied away from growing the cash crop.
To him, this will happen in 10 years if the government does not put in place a strategic plan to increase tonnage in the cocoa sector and also make the venture more attractive to farmers.
According to him, children of cocoa farmers have witnessed their parents toil for nothing, and comparing other jobs to farming, they would rather do the former than engage in the latter.
“I have 9 kids and none of them are getting involved in farming. They have seen the work I do and noticed my hard work doesn’t match up to the benefits I enjoy. They are all pursuing academics and other businesses and not cocoa farming.”
With his kids pursuing other careers, Nana Boakye fears his kids will sell his 42-acre cocoa farm upon his demise if cocoa farmers do not benefit from their labour. “None of my kids want to venture into cocoa farming and on the very day I die, my kids will sell my land and that is the case with other cocoa farmers as well.”
He made this prediction in an interview with Happy98.9FM’s Don Kwabena Prah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.
The chief farmer proposing a solution to this possible collapse of Ghana’s cocoa sector said, “to make cocoa farming attractive, we need to look at the pricing of cocoa and make sure farming inputs and support from the government is consistent and timely.”
He also believes intensive education, development in cocoa-growing regions, and the provision of social amenities will also make the younger generation cherish cocoa farming. “This is what we need if we want to succeed as a cocoa-growing country.”
Stories on the plight of rural cocoa farmers have been shared on Happy98.9FM’s Epa Hoa Daben political show as part of a series dubbed, “Ghana’s Cocoa Sector, ‘The Inside Story’. This was prompted by the revelation of China actively participating in the growing of cocoa.
Farmers have been urged to proceed to their retail point of sales to purchase their subsidy seeds under the Planting for Food and Jobs for the 2021 farming season.
This was noted when the Directorate of Crop Services and Plant Protection Regulatory Directorate (PPRD) under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture inspected the seeds that the government contracted Seed Co West & Central Africa to provide for farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) flagship programme.
In an interview with Agric Today, Dr. Solomon Gyan Ansah, the Deputy Director of the Crop Services Directorate under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said it is the mandate of the Ministry to get the best hybrid seeds for the farmers to plant.
“When we talk of subsidy, it is you and me, Ghanaians, all of us, our tax money that the government uses to support our farmers, so if the farmers do not get the best from these subsidized seeds then it means the government has wasted our money”, Dr. Gyan Ansah said.
The farming season is here again and as the government contracted Seed Co West & Central Africa to supply 100 mt of hybrid maize seeds for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme last year, this year, the government entrusted the company to supply 100 mt based on the good report of yields from the farmers.
To ensure quality imported seeds for farmers from Seed Co West & Central Africa, the PPRD officials took samples of the seeds to check the germination percentage on arrival. This is to make sure the government does not provide bad seeds for the farmers.
“The variety which we are supplying under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme is called SC719 or ‘Gemedi’ in Ghanaian local dialect. This is high yield hybrid seed with drought-tolerant and stretch needs”, Dr. Takemore Chagomoka, the Regional Manager, West and Central Africa of Seed Co said.
The maize varieties catalog that was released in Ghana last year, the SC719 variety so far was the one with the highest yield of 10 to 12 mt per hectare and the response from the farmers indicates that they need the seeds for production this year.
Dr. Takemore explained that since the inspection has completed it is the mandate of the company and the distributor to deliver the seeds to every district under the Planting for Food and Export programme for farmers to have easy access to plant.
Talking about distributing the SC719 seeds to the various districts, Mr. George Ametepey Tozo, the Finance and Administrative Manager of Agriseed Limited said Agriseed has a distribution shop across 8 regions so far, mostly in the Northern part of the country where maize farming is predominant.
“The trucks would convey the seeds from the Central Region to the distribution shops across the 8 regions within 48 hours after the inspection”, George Tozo said.
Resolving the challenges in the distribution channel of subsidized seeds for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, George Ametepey Tozo said with the determinant price by the government which is GHs 12 per 1kg, they would make sure each farmer does not pay above or below the price.
He assured of equal distribution of the seeds to the farmers. He urged the farmers to patronize Seed Co maize seed variety for a bumper harvest as the planting season is about to start.
The stakeholders of the Ghana beekeeping and honey production fraternity have slated the 20th of May, which is a day set aside by the United Nations to celebrate Bees and other pollinators in the world, as a day to also create awareness for its beekeeping and honey industry. The maiden honey festival was celebrated under the theme: A Spotlight on Pollinators, Beekeeping and Honey Safety for Sustainable Livelihood and Biodiversity Conversation.
The event brought together stakeholders along the honey value chain on a single platform to share knowledge and deliberate on pertinent issues for promoting innovation and sustaining the honey industry in Ghana.
“The main purpose of the Ghana Honey Festival is to provide a single platform for producers, processors, consumers, and other relevant stakeholders to share knowledge and innovation for the growth of the industry, provide a national networking platform for the industry, and rally stakeholders to deliberate on bees and other pollinators and their critical role to society to enhance awareness and production”, Dr. Courage Adanu-Besah, the Coordinator Of The Ghana Apiculture Platform, GHANAP said.
He expressed that the purpose of the honey festival, is expected to generate the needed buzz to drive the industry and the energy generated would benefit all producers, processors, and consumers along the value chain.
The Director of CSIR-FORIG, Prof. Daniel A. Ofori, on behalf of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR-Ghana, hosted the maiden Honey Festival and International Bee Day Celebration, at the premises of CSIR-FORIG, Fumesua near Ejisu in Kumasi. In her welcoming address on behalf of the Director of CSIR-FORIG, Dr. Beatrice Darko Obiri said the full potential of the honey industry in Ghana is untapped and has remained hidden yet an important income and livelihood source for many actors in the value chain, especially rural producers across the country.
According to her, in 2019, global natural honey export was worth $1.99 billion with China leading while Africa’s share of the global honey trade was just 13% in 2016. She acknowledged the industry has been bedeviled with many challenges especially, quality standardized products with innovative packaging for both domestic and international markets. She entreated the stakeholders to pay particular attention to addressing the challenges in the industry to harness the potential of apiculture for both livelihood and environmental sustainability.
In a keynote address delivered at the festival, the Guest of Honor, Ps. Prof. Peter Kwapong of the University of Cape Coast, and the Founder and the Director of the International Stingless Bee Centre, recounted that honey is one of the main products utilized from beekeeping in Ghana.
He continued that the benefits of beekeeping were large to biodiversity sustainability, “the main benefit of beekeeping is not actually the honey, it is what we call ‘Pollination’ when you keep bees you are feeding the whole world. When you keep bees you are helping all flowering plants to survive or reproduce”, Prof said.
According to Prof, no matter what a farmer may do after land preparation, and planting and if there is no pollination, the farmer worked in vain and beekeeping is very important therefore, the country should do more to uphold it.
He opined that beekeeping is contributing immensely to the economic, social, and environmental life of people but it is bedeviled with a lot of skills like the improper way of harvesting honey by the farmers, mixing up bees grading honey by the farmers, and improper observation of hygienic protocols during processing and packaging by the farmers.
He urged the farmers, and the stakeholders to take advantage of the honey festival and international bee celebration to get the needed knowledge and skills to develop their honey and bee business.
“According to the various reports on the analysis of the Honey Market Size, Share and Trade, the global honey market size was valued at an estimated $9.21 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of between 5.2% to 8.2% by 2028 with a revenue forecast of around $17.34 billion”, Dr. Charles Dwamena, FMR Ambassador to Asia (China, North Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam) expressed.
He explained that the major factor driving the market growth includes high demand for nutritious food products, such as honey, on account of rising awareness about the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Dr, Dwamena however said in order for Ghana to develop and grow the honey industry and benefit from the growing global market, the integrity of the product’s quality remains essential.
“It is paramount for the stakeholders in Ghana’s honey market to invest more in research that holistically determines the economic and social value of the sector to the extent where such data can influence and shape government’s policy positions”, he added.
He commended the organizers for making the Ghana Honey Festival and International Bee Day possible to educate, train and deliberate on the importance of honey and beekeeping to the ecosystem.
Speaking on behalf of the Ashanti Regional Director of Agriculture, Dr. David Anabam, the Ejisu District Director of Agriculture added that due to the increasing demand for honey and the traders’ intent to meet the huge demand for their selfish gains as a result of consumer taste for quality natural sweetness in place of the natural sugar, honey has become one of the adulterated food products on Ghanaian and global market.
He commended the organizers of the programme for introducing an alternative sustainable livelihood programme that will broaden the income-generating activity base for the farmers and alleviate poverty. “I hope that at the end of this maiden festival many of our farmers and teaming youth will get something to do to earn decent life”, he said.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Courage Besah-Adanu noted; “It is exciting that on this day and forward, the Ghana Honey production and beekeeping industry, all relevant stakeholders and interests working on the operations of Bees and other important pollinators, now have a day (20th May), we can now call OUR DAY!”, he gladly pronounced.
He called on all industry players to rally behind the flag of Ghana on the 20th of May each year to deliberate with reason, Network, Communicate, and project new innovations and frontiers for a common future in providing quality and safe honey products for Ghana and the World.
Finally, Dr. Besah-Adanu took the opportunity to thank the Danish Government, (DFC), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the CSIR-FORIG for the various support in Kind and Cash for the Honey Festival and International Bee Day Celebration.
FAO launched its new Corporate Environmental Responsibility Strategy in a virtual event today.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations launched a new Corporate Environmental Responsibility Strategy that aims to reduce the Organization’s total Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) by 45 percent by 2030.
The ambitious new emissions reduction strategy focuses on improving the sustainability of daily operations, including the introduction of energy efficiency measures in facilities, updating travel policies to reduce travel-related emissions, and improving water use and recycling schemes.
“As we look at the current state of our planet, at the loss of biodiversity, rising sea levels, ecosystem degradation, and the negative effects of climate change, it is clear that the time for action is now,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, in his opening address at the launch event today. “FAO has decided to play its part and respond by developing an ambitious action plan to reduce emissions and foster the internal sustainability of its operations and programs”.
He added that the new Strategy “marks a turning point” for FAO and is an opportunity to lead by good example and show reverence to nature, allowing FAO to “continue to walk the talk”.
Concrete actions in the new Strategy include promoting the increased use of renewables and avoiding the use of diesel generators, increasing waste separation and improving recycling schemes, phasing out single-use plastics, and encouraging flexible working practices to reduce commuting.
Also speaking at today’s event, Ambassador Céline Jurgensen, Permanent Representative of France to FAO, Ambassador GUANG Defu, Permanent Representative of China, and Jennifer Harhigh, Charge d’Affaires of the United States, all praised FAO for adopting a new strategy and taking firm steps to reduce GHG emissions.
We have made progress, but we must do more FAO has had a Corporate Environmental Responsibility Strategy in place for its operations and facilities since 2016 and is one of the first UN entities to do so. Great efforts have already been made at FAO headquarters and main regional and country offices to improve environmental sustainability, and a solid trend of emissions reduction is already visible.
Solar energy systems have been installed at headquarters, at the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana, and at FAO country offices in Djibouti, Mauritania, Nepal, and Uganda. All the travel- and building-related carbon dioxide emissions have been offset since 2014. Plastic is currently being phased out at headquarters and the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand. FAO projects must undergo mandatory environmental and social screening, including introducing certification for environmental and social risks into the FAO project approval process. Since 2008, FAO projects have resulted in a cumulative reduction of over 27 million kg of carbon dioxide equivalent, and cumulative savings of over USD 4 million.
However, up until now, there have been separate environmental sustainability processes for facilities and operations, and for FAO programmes and projects. The new Corporate Environmental Responsibility Strategy will boost environmental sustainability throughout the Organization’s entire programme of work, targeting all projects and offices across the world.
Call for action to FAO staff In the launch of the new strategy, the Director-General issued a global call for action to all FAO employees, encouraging them to think innovatively on how to make a difference through their actions, either in the office or at home.
It is imperative that we enact meaningful changes in behaviour and mindsets throughout the Organization to reach the ambitious goal, he stressed.
Participating in the virtual event were FAO employees from around the world. Deputy Directors-General Laurent Thomas and Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Regional Representatives and colleagues from headquarters offices, involved in developing and implementing the Strategy, also spoke at the event.
The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) today launched the Italy-Ghana Agribusiness Digital Lab project to bring together Italian and Ghanaian companies in the agribusiness sector to develop mutually beneficial business relationships.
The project will introduce Italian expertise and technology in the agribusiness value chain to the Ghanaian agribusiness market, with a focus on the following key areas: Agricultural Machinery and Mechanization; Logistics; Inputs and Agrochemicals; Irrigation; and Agro-Processing and Packaging. About 27 Italian companies with expertise in these areas will be presented to the Ghanaian market.
The project will also expose Ghanaian agribusiness entrepreneurs to Italian initiatives in agribusiness training and skills development.
The highlight of the project will be a series of virtual business-to-business (B2B) meetings to be held on June 22, 2021, between Italian agribusiness companies and their Ghanaian counterparts.
To facilitate the meetings, the ITA has established a portal, https://ghana-italy.digital.ice.it/, which offers detailed information on the participating Italian agribusiness companies and technologies, and where Ghanaian agro-related enterprises can register to participate in the virtual B2B meetings with the Italian companies.
“Italy is a global agribusiness industry leader and has a number of household names in the supply of agribusiness inputs, machinery, and technologies,” said Alessandro Gerbino, the ITA Director for West Africa. “The Digital Lab project, therefore, aims to connect these Italian companies with Ghanaian firms along the agribusiness value chain to facilitate commercial partnerships that will strengthen trade and investment between the two countries.”
The Digital Lab project is targeted at all Ghanaian enterprises operating along the agribusiness value chain, such as input suppliers, farmers/growers, agricultural trading companies, agro-processors, and retailers.
The Ghanaian entrepreneurs who participate in the B2B meetings will also be given the chance to compete for two scholarships for MBA in Impact Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The MBA is a degree programme offered by the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and E4Impact Foundation,– Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan (Italy), starting in September 2021.
Italian Trade Agency is the governmental agency that supports the business development of Italian companies abroad and promotes the attraction of foreign investment in Italy.
With a motivated and modern organization and a widespread network of overseas offices, ITA provides information, assistance, consulting, promotion and training to Italian small and medium-sized businesses. Using the most modern multi-channel promotion and communication tools, it acts to assert the excellence of Made in Italy in the world.
Nana Kwabena Adjei Ayeh II, (middle) the President of Ghana Rice Inter - professional Body (GRIB), asking the government and the financial institutions to reduce the interest rate to 10% for rice farmers.
President of the Ghana Rice Inter-professional Body (GRIB) Nana Kwabena Adjei Ayeh II is calling on the government to get commercial banks to reduce the interest on borrowing to 10% for rice farmers across the country. Currently, the rate is between 26 and 32% per annum.
He said the rate is too high and frightening for rice farmers who are badly in need of loans to upscale production and upgrade farming infrastructure. He attributed rice to be a unique food commodity in Ghana which deserves special attention.
“Soft loans can help boost our farms’ value, make our business more efficient, and improve our products,” Nana Ayeh observed.
“Rice is one of the staple food commodities in Ghana and is used to prepare different kinds of dishes. It is usually the dominant food on the menu of most homes, restaurants, and roadside eateries in the county,” he added.
Nana Ayeh was speaking at GRIB’s national value chain engagement session and annual general meeting in Accra. The association’s membership includes rice farmers, aggregators, marketers, and consumers.
Nana Ayeh urged the newly elected executives to work hard for the benefit of rice farmers. “Our mandate is to promote local rice which we call the Ghana Rice,” he stated.
Ms. Regina Bauerochse Barbosa, Country Director, GIZ Ghana.
Current environmental activities in Ghana pose a great threat to the living organisms in the ecosystem as well as the sectors of the economy, especially to the agriculture and aquaculture sector. The destruction of Ghana’s vegetation coupling with galamsey activities have destroyed the very water bodies which host the aquatic organisms.
“The ecosystem that sustains the thriving of aquaculture sector is under serious threat. Today, news of illegal mining, indiscriminate logging, indiscriminate soil winning, and other adverse environmental activities happening across the country, poses major threats to the survival of the aquaculture sector”, the Country Director, GIZ Ghana, Ms. Regina Bauerochse Barbosa said.
Speaking at the First Hybrid Aquaculture Conference for the West African Region on the theme: “Promoting Inclusion in the Aquaculture Sector for Sustainable Growth and Economic Development”, Regina Bauerochse Barbosa said the water bodies, which host the aquatic organisms are threatened with chemicals and other forms of pollution, making them less inhabitable coupled with the well-known climate change effect across the world, calls for measures aimed at securing the environment.
She extolled the government for the mitigation steps taken so far to tackle the destruction of the water bodies. However, she said more needs to be done. “I am therefore appealing to government, private sectors, and non-state actors to join hands to protect the environment and to promote aquaculture development”, she added.
She recognized the needed effort by the Government of Ghana (GOG) to curb the huge difference in fish deficit in the country and to promote aquaculture as the capture fisheries dwindles. According to her, this is a step in the right direction, and GIZ, as well as BMZ, understand the role of this sector in building Ghana’s economy since aquaculture has proven over the years to contribute to reducing poverty, improving food security, promotes a sustainable ecosystem, gender mainstreaming and the generation of foreign exchange.
For sustainable development and to achieve the SDGs, particularly food and nutrition security in Ghana, she said, there should be gender or women empowerment. Despite the number of women engaged in the aquaculture value chain, women still face substantive challenges to engage and benefit equitably from the sector.
Mentioning some of the challenges Regina Bauerochse Barbosa said the contributing factors include limited or no access to resources including finance, social gender norm impediments, over-burden with other chores, and lack of knowledge from technical, and business or entrepreneurship viewpoint.
She lauded the aquaculture sector as a sector that has a vast opportunity to create jobs for the youth and must be incorporated into agriculture training systems.
“If we are to be part of African Continental Free Trade Area with even a bigger market of billion dollars continent instead of 400 million dollars in ECOWAS, we need to scale up, our sectors are too small. We need to make sure we provide funding for our feed companies to be able to integrate into either soybean and maize production or help people who are specialized in farming to produce for them to reduce the cost”, Kwame Pianim, an economist and a fish farmer said this at the First Hybrid Aquaculture Conference for the West African Region on the theme; the Challenges of Aquaculture Industry in Ghana.
Generally, the lack of global competitiveness of the industry is a result of the high cost of feed to the sector. Feed cost which is about 65% of production cost which comprises maize and soybean are not available in competitive values, however, most of the agricultural products in Ghana have a yield deficit of 50%, therefore, for inputs cost to reduce, Ghana must scale up production.
According to Kwame Pianim, the instability of the currency has had negative effects on both the inputs and the prices of fish products. The constant increase in the dollar rate has accounted for the increase in both inputs and fishes. Customers used to purchase 1kg of fish for Ghs 1 which was equivalent to $1 a decade ago, but now due to the constant increase of the dollar rate, customers now buy 1kg of fish for Ghs 15-20 since Ghs1 is now $5.8.
He explained that some of the policies that favor the Ministry of Food and Agriculture disfavor the Aquaculture Ministry. “There is lack of coordination in sector policies. For instance, poultry feed comes into the country ‘ duty-free’ while we pay custom duties on fish feed, is the fish not animal as poultry as legislatures described?” he question.
In addition, Kwame Pianim said the burden of inbuilt administrative coercive levy and arbitrary regulatory and administrative fees seem to be a challenge to the sector. The lack of coordination, digitalization, and operational link of GRA, SSNIT, and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) administrative systems burden the operators with seeking multiple tax and SSNIT clearance certificates for renewal of exemption certificates for customs clearance at the port.
He bemoaned over the inadequate support for the sector development. There is a need to prioritize domestic aquaculture development challenges at the ministry level and balance them against premix and fish import licensing activities.
The astute economist called for the availability of quality management and operational staff. He commended the training that are been done at the university level for the sector, but what is mostly needed is operators and staff who would feed the fish and be able to monitor the health conditions of the fish.
He canvassed for more training of the youth especially women into the sector. He applauded the women who are marketing the fishes digitally for economic gains. He called for more women in that direction to inculcate more innovative ideas in the sector.
Sri Lanka has imposed a ban on palm oil imports and ordered oil palm plantations in the country to be replaced with rubber trees and other crops over the next decade, citing adverse environmental and social impacts.
The decision is based on recommendations from a 2018 report by a panel of environmental experts, who linked oil palm plantations to soil erosion and the drying up of water sources.
Unlike in other countries where the crop is grown, oil palms aren’t a driver of deforestation in Sri Lanka; instead, they’ve replaced rubber plantations, which host a higher level of biodiversity and provide more jobs for locals.
Another concern is that oil palm is becoming an invasive species, occurring in the wild in a forest reserve, with as-yet-unknown impacts on native flora and fauna.
COLOMBO — Environmentalists have welcomed the Sri Lankan government’s surprise decision to ban palm oil imports into the country and raze existing plantations, but others say the science justifying the move is unfounded.
The government made the announcement in an April 5 gazette, citing recommendations from an expert panel formed by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA). The panel had identified soil erosion and drying of springs as among the potentially irreversible impacts of oil palm plantations on the island’s biodiversity and livelihood of local communities. Its report, published in 2018, outlined several recommendations to create the foundation for banning oil palm cultivation on the island.
Gamini Hitinayake, a member of the expert panel and professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Peradeniya, said the proliferation of oil palms threatened native plant and animal species.
“Oil palm is a threat to the existence of all traditional plantation crops such as rubber, tea, and coconut which are far more environment friendly,” he told Mongabay.
Invasive species Siril Wijesundara, former director-general of the Department of Botanical Gardens and a member of a team documenting invasive alien plant species in Sri Lanka, said oil palms have been found growing naturally in the Indikada Mukalana forest reserve in the country’s west.
“Oil palm already shows signs of becoming an invasive species in Sri Lanka,” he told Mongabay. “As a precautionary measure to prevent oil palm becoming an invasive [species], it is important to prevent natural regeneration of oil palm seeds within and adjacent [to] oil palm plantations.”
Introduced to Sri Lanka in 1968, the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) doesn’t have a natural pollinator here. So the African oil palm weevil (Elaeidobius kamerunicus) was also brought into the country. While there are no documented reports of negative impacts associated with the beetle, more research needs to be done on it, said Jayantha Wijesinghe of the local environmental NGO Rainforest Protectors of Sri Lanka.
Water worries Hitinayake said another of the main concerns regarding oil palm cultivation is that the tree absorbs a lot of water, leading to fears that it could dry up local streams. Oil palm is a fast-growing plant, and as such has a high rate of water consumption, especially during the growth stage, Hitinayake said.
Another issue the expert panel report highlighted was that oil palm plantations don’t have intercropping or undergrowth; they’re strictly monoculture, and so don’t support biodiversity. In contrast, the more common rubber plantations do support a relatively high level of biodiversity. Recent research shows endangered Indian pangolins (Manis crassicaudata) prefer rubber plantations as their prime habitat, after forests.
But rubber plantations have disappeared to make way for oil palms since the latter were first introduced here. Unlike in most of the other countries where oil palm is grown, notably top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, the crop’s commercial cultivation hasn’t driven large-scale deforestation in Sri Lanka. Instead, it has taken over rubber plantations, aided by tax concessions for seed imports and other incentives from the government.
That’s given rise to another complaint, this one about the social impact of oil palm plantations. Cultivating and harvesting the crop isn’t as labor-intensive as rubber or other crops, prompting fears and protests from villagers working in rubber plantations about a loss of livelihood.
Villagers protest against oil palm cultivation, citing adverse environmental impacts. Image courtesy of Jayantha Wijesinghe.
Planting violations There are about 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) of oil palms planted across Sri Lanka. “But in many instances, the planters violate basic guidelines issued for cultivation,” Wijesinghe said.
He noted that it’s prohibited to plant oil palms on slopes steeper than 30 degrees, but in some places, they’re cultivated on slopes steeper than 60 degrees. There’s also a prohibition on planting in wetlands or on riverbanks, but this too is often breached, Wijesinghe said.
Under the government’s new stance on palm oil, all imports will be banned. The country buys about 200,000 metric tons of the vegetable oil annually, mostly from Malaysia. The new policy also calls for razing 10% of oil palm planted area every year and replanting with rubber and other crops that are less water-intensive.
Oil palm is not as labor-intensive as other crops, particularly rubber. Villagers say they fear a loss of livelihood if the crop expands. Image courtesy of Asoka Nugawela.
‘Unfounded’ argument The pushback to the announcement was immediate. Asoka Nugawela, an emeritus professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Wayamba University, took issue with the CEA expert panel’s suggestion that oil palm plantations could dry up local water sources.
He said oil palm in Sri Lanka is generally cultivated in areas where annual rainfall exceeds 3,500 millimeters (138 inches), while their water requirement is about 1,300 mm (51 in). So the argument that they could cause springs to run dry isn’t true, Nugawela said.
“If you visit oil palm plantations, you can witness healthily flowing streams full of life,” he told Mongabay.
He noted that the Nakiyadeniya estate, Sri Lanka’s first oil palm plantation, has been running now for more than 50 years, with no sign of water problems in the area. A 2018 study described a new species of freshwater fish in a stream in Nakiyadeniya; Nugawela said this proves that the streams drying up argument is unfounded.
He said climate change is a more likely factor impacting water availability, with rainfall patterns becoming more erratic. He also said the issue of soil erosion is a management problem for which there are remedial measures that can be taken.
The Palm Oil Industry Association of Sri Lanka has also rejected the expert panel’s recommendations that justify the ban, and has called the science into question. It says companies have invested heavily in oil palm cultivation with the encouragement of successive governments and will be appealing against the ban.
Banner image of oil palm fruits, from which palm oil is derived. Oil palm has a higher yield per acre than any other vegetable oil crop. Image via Pixabay.
