By Christian Njoku
The Oil-Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN) has warned Nigerians to be wary of excessively red palm oil in the market, saying they may be adulterated.
The National President of OPGAN, Mr Joe Onyiuke, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Tuesday.
Onyiuke advised Nigerians not to buy certain kinds of oil, saying that adulterated oil, which looked very enticing to the eye due to its redness, was just the addition of chemicals.
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According to him, the redness of natural oil is not that bright and it has a bit of yellowish colour, which makes it a little less enticing to the eye.
“Although it is important to know this, we need to also go beyond just using our eyes to certify which oil is good for consumption by standardising and certifying people, whether they are sellers or producers.
“We have the problem of middlemen who buy this product from our farmers at a very cheap price and mix it with other chemicals because they want to maximise profit.
“We are working with the Ministries of Agriculture, Standard Organization of Nigeria, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and the Ministry of Trade and Investment to ensure that we set enforceable standards and sensitise Nigerians,” Onyiuke said.
He further called on oil-palm growers to engage in climate smart agriculture, which gives more produce to the farmer and at the same time protects the environment from degradation.
He said that imbibing best management practices would help them get more yield in the same parcel of land they have been using, instead of going to clear virgin forests for agriculture, which enhances deforestation.
“By adhering to the principles of climate smart agriculture, we make more profit, following the trainings we have received on the European Union deforestation regulation.
“In the past, many of our farmers just planted tree crops without maintenance and after a while they keep on expanding without getting returns from the initial plantation when they can make optimum benefits of their existing plantation,” he said.
He commended Gov. Bassey Otu of Cross River who, according to him, is the only governor to buy 3.5 million oil-palm seeds from the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research to support the production of palm oil.
He said that by the time they were able to raise the seeds into seedlings, the farmers in the state would be able to go back and replant because what they had at the moment were old plantations with very old trees. (NAN)
