A research conducted by the University of Ghana Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), has indicated that Oil Palm has a huge economic potential that can significantly alleviate rural poverty.
According to the research, the Oil Palm sector does not only provide livelihoods to farmers but also many others along the value chain which include, operators, transporters, seed distributors, and agro-inputs sellers.
The sector also employs between 1,000 and 3,000 contractors predominantly during harvesting.
This came to light during an Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) Project, a dissemination workshop organized by (ISSER).
The workshop brought together key stakeholders, such as researchers, Regional and District Directors of Agriculture, Opinion leaders, Agricultural organizations, farmers, and farmer association in the
Western Region.
Research Fellow at ISSER, Dr Kofi Takyi Asante who took the participants through the research findings, indicated that oil palm was selected for the research because it was considered a national priority crop because of its potentials for reducing poverty, its wide geographical coverage, and its use as both food and cash crop.
He pointed out that currently, the oil palm was the second most important out of 10 industrial crops, adding that between 2007-2019 oil palm grew from 680.781 metric tonnes to 1.896.760 metric tonnes creating about two million jobs across the value chain.
Dr Asante said oil palm had a large growth potential but fortunately Ghana’s current crude palm oil production of 245 000 metric tonnes was unable to meet the global demand for the product.