In Nigeria, palm oil production is still very much dominated by the small-medium scale producers. Of the total palm oil and palm kernel output, production from the natural groves and smallholder plantations account for about 89% while production from the large estates account for about 11%.

The project therefore is supporting these farmers to improve upon their yields and incomes through training and demonstration of best management practices using the farmer field school approach. Farmers are also been supported to go through RSPO certification to open market opportunities for them. These smallholders will be out of the international palm oil supply chain if they did not attain RSPO certification by 2017 as the major buyers of CPO from Nigeria have set 2017 as the cut-off date after which they will not buy non-certified CPO. The Project therefore aims to make sustainable agricultural practices the norm for at least 1,000 independent smallholder farmers through RSPO Certification by the end of project.

• 20 independent smallholder groups capable of lobbying for inputs and extension support services by the end of project.
• At least 75% increase in yields and incomes for at least 1000 independent smallholder farmers by end of project.

At least 1000 independent smallholder farmers attained RSPO certification by end of project.

• Looking for Project Partners

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  Funding

  Seeking Additional Funding and used for

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  1. Baseline Assessment
  2. Social & Environmental Impact Assessment
  3. HCV Assessment
  4. Certification Audit

  RSPO Credits

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  Selling Certified Volume as RSPO Credit?

  No

  Interested to be Contacted by Potential Buyer?

  No

• Smallholder Story / Quote

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  “No programme had captured the interest of farmers in cross River State like Solidaridad’s BMP programme. People keep calling to ask when we are coming to their communities” – Chief Owali Ilem OPGAN Chairman, Cross River state.

  ” My palm trees were not yielding any fruits from September but after I started implementing the BMP, I am harvesting even in November” – Mr Osam, Etung farmer –Cross River State

  “My manager usually calls to give me the report of daily activities since Solidaridad trained us on BMP. One day, after giving the day’s report, he concluded by saying, ‘Oga, if we know this before, we for no get work again o’. I had 10 workers before Solidaridad came. Now I have only four, and they are happy to keep working for me. The labour is now less and easy and the palms are doing so well” Mr. Mbek Tangba, Etung L.G.A, Cross River State

  Lessons Learnt

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  Solidaridad, having been working to integrate smallholders into the sustainable palm oil supply chain through RSPO Certification in Ghana, Nigeria and Core d'Ivoire, has been learning some lessons that are being used to refine existing projects and which will be useful in designing future projects.

  Smallholder farmers have great difficulty appreciating the benefits of certification and they consider its requirements cumbersome and expensive, they are however more favorably disposed to BMP interventions and its attendant improved productivity. Solidaridad has subsequently adopted BMP intervention as the entry strategy to introducing RSPO certification to independent smallholders across the project locations.

  The fragmented and scattered nature of independent smallholder farms coupled with the near non-existent documentation on land titles among them have continued to make meeting RSPO requirements on land use analysis, HCV assessments, land maps, compensation procedures, land titles and RSPO registration very difficult for smallholder groups. Basic GPS mapping of farmers farms are now been adopted to develop some basic maps for farmer groups for instance while letters from local authorities on land are being used to resolve land documentation challenges.

  Solidaridad is working with several independent smallholder associations in different project locations. While there are some umbrella associations, there are also several independent farmer cooperatives that are very active in the project. Considering the high cost of audit, presenting individual associations and cooperatives for audit would be out of the reach of the project budget for the exercise. Hence, solidaridad has been engaging with various associations and cooperatives on the need to work toward the evolution of an umbrella RSPO association under which all-participating smallholder farmer groups can be presented as a group for audit in order to keep the overall cost of certification manageable.

  Relevant Tools used for Project Implementation

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  Other Information as Deemed Relevant by the Organisation

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• Project Details

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  Name of The Smallholder Group Supported

  Nalda Multipurpose Cooperative/Opgan

  Type of Smallholders Supported by This Project

  Independent

  Country & Location of Implementation

  Nigeria

  Project Period

  Status of The Project

  Completed Project

  Project Certification Status

  Not Certified

  Co-funded by RSSF

  Yes

  Average Smallholder Yield (in FFB/ha/year)

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  At Project Start: 2.7Ha
  Current Yield: 11.4Ha
  

  Current Partner Organisations

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  NALDA/FMARD Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS)

  Ferdinand Eko, Cooperative Leader, +2348132288784

   

  NALDA/FMARD, Cross River State - Implementing

  Mr. Iwara Bassey, State Coordinator, Tel: +2348030866124

   

  Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria, (OPGAN), Cross River State - Implementing

  Chief Owali Ilem, President, Cross Rivers State, Tel: +2348063536632

   

  Ministry of Agriculture, Cross River State - Implementing

  Mr. Ufono, Director, Tree Crop Development Unit, Tel: +2347039055530

   

  Wilmar International – Supply Chain Partner

  isaac abban-mensah, africa sustainability controller, Tel: +233 244 612 852