Palm | Kelapa Sawit

The oil palm tree is God's gift and blessing to Africa which is not recognized by the inhabitants of most African countries especially Nigeria where the tree grows abundantly and in lush groves.
The palm tree responds favourably to plantation development. Its fruits, which come in bunches, yields palm oil and its nuts yield palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake.The oil palms (Elaeis comprise two species of the Arecaceae or palm family.They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil.
The African Oil Palm known as Elaeis guineensis is a native of West Africa and occurs between Angola and Gambia while the American Oil Palm Elaeis Oleifera is native to Central and South America. The generic name is derived from the Greek word for oil elaion while the species name refers to the country of origin.
Mature trees are single-stemmed and grow to 20m tall. The leaves are pinnate and reacg between 3-5m long. A young tree produces about 30 leaves a year. Trees over 10 years produce 20 leaves a year.flowers are produced in dense clusters, and each individual flower is small with three petals and three sepals. The fruit takes 5 to 6 months to mature from pollination. It consists of an oily outer layer,the pericarp with a single seed known as the kernel, also rich in oil.The tree does not produce offshoots. Propagation is by planting the seed.

PALM KERNEL OIL

Palm kernel oil is obtained by crushing the seeds from the nuts and squeezing the crushed mash to obtain the palm kernel oil.

USES OF PALM OIL AND PALM KERNEL OIL

FOOD USES

Both palm oil and palm kernel oil are used in various food products and non-food products.
The food uses are numerous and include the production of cooking oils, margarine, shortening, bakery products to name a few.

NON -FOOD USES

The non-food uses are either direct uses or via oleo-chemical processes - analogous with the petrochemical processes used in the petroleum industries.
Products from the direct processes include: diesel, drilling m ud, and soaps.

The products obtained via the oleochemical route include:
rubber,candles,cosmetics,soaps, metallic soaps,biodiesel, personal care products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, lubricants and greases, surfactants, industrial chemicals, agrochemicals, coatings, paints and lacquers, insulation a nd special purpose plastic components in electronics industries, polishes, softeners and treating and dressing agents in the leather industries to name a few.
Unfortunately in West Africa and especially in Nigeria, palm oil is employed only for the food uses while the other uses via the oleo-chemical process are completely neglected.

In contrast, countries like Malaysia and Indonesia who got their oil palm trees from West Africa have gone far ahead in establishing refineries for the production of bio-diesel and other oleo-chemical industries to make use of their refined palm and palm kernel oils.

CULTIVATION OF OIL PALM PLANTATIONS
The acerage of land under palm plantation cultivation in both Indonasia and Malaysia have greatly expanded their oil palm groves by establishing many big oil palm plantations while in West Africa we still rely mainly on the wild groves for our fruits
Consequently, these two countries, Malaysia and Indonesia have overtaken Nigeria and othe West African countris as the world's largest and second larges exporters of oil palm products for both food and non food uses.