Investment Opportunity In Palm Production and Palm Oil/ Kernel Processing.

 Palm oil production is a money spinning business that an aspiring entrepreneur can start with reasonable amount of money plus a lot of hard work.  But like I said, the reward is quiet huge and lasts for a lifetime.  

 The palm tree starts producing ripe palm fruits within three years of plantation and keeps producing round the year, even for decades, except for a slight drop in yield during the rainy seasons.

 Palm kernel oil business can be done on a small, medium or large scale, depending on the financial capacity or experience and specialty of the person that is going into the business.

To state that there is huge potential in palm production and palm oil processing business is an understatement. The palm product can be processed and sold as red palm oil, vegetable oil or as cake. The by- products can also be sold off as animal feeds.

The market for palm product is very huge and the demand is all year round and consistently on the increase. Red palm oil is commonly used in most homes in Africa for cooking /direct consumption. It is also sold as raw materials for cosmetics manufacturers, diesel producing and soap making factories.

Investment in palm production is a very lucrative one, as the demand for palm products all over the world and in West Africa in particular is grossly unmet.

For those planning to start up a palm plantation business, it is also recommended to consider adding palm oil extraction and vegetable or palm kernel oil processing to it.

Production of palm oil and palm kernel oil from palm fruits.

 The production of palm oil from palm fruits is done in these simple steps

1          Sterilization: this softens the fruit for the digestion and release of oil. It also helps to condition the nuts to minimize kernel breakage.

2          Stripping: Stripping or threshing involves separating the sterilized fruits from the bunch stalks.

3          Digestion and Pressing: After stripping, the fruits are moved into a digester where they are reheated to loosen the pericarp. Improvements in press designs have allowed fruits to undergo single or multiple pressing. Second stage pressing on the press cake fibers enables more oil to be extracted.

4          Clarification:  this is the process of separating oil from bunch of fiber, water and other solids.

 Kernel Production

Production of refined palm kernel oil from the palm kernel is more technical than the red palm oil extraction process and require highly efficient mechanised machines.

The press cake from the digester is fed to a vertical column in order to separate the fibre from the nuts. The nuts are passed to a polishing drum where pieces of stalks are removed. A nutcracker cracks the nuts after the conditioning and drying process.  The mixture of cracked nuts and shells are separated manually or with a machine, followed by a hydrocyclone or a clay bath. A hydrocyclone uses centrifugal force to separate the kernel from the shell using water. The clay bath principle works on the specific gravity of kernel of 1.07 and the shell of 1.17. The kernels will float while the shells sink in a clay bath mixture of SG 1.12. The kernels are then dried in hot air silos to moisture content of less than 7%.

With Good mentorship and a comprehensive business plan, tapping into the palm oil production/ processing business could take you where you wish to be within the next five years. 

Considering the large space of virgin land available for cash crop farming in West Africa, I can authoritatively state that it doesn't take much to start it and the reward and potential is unlimited.

There are lots of funding opportunities for people that wish to start up an agro based business as governments are becoming increasingly interested in agriculture.  With laid  down policies in favour of agricultural related business, governments and organizations are ready to lend helping hand to everyone willing to go into partnership, provided the person could come up with sound and impressive business plan.

Palm production business is a highly profitable venture and you can start in a low scale, medium or large scale.

 By Onyinye Orabuike