Palm | Kelapa Sawit

The Economic Importance of the oil palm
Palm produce and other crops accounted for more than 80 to 90% of West Africa's domestic exports in the first decade of the 20th century (Usoro,1973)
It earned Nigeria about 22% of the foreign exchange up to the beginning of the Nigerian civil war (Modebe,1978)
As at 1986, Nigeria's domestic palm oil production was estimated to be 760,000 metric tons while her imports during the same period was 178,000 metric tons. Palm kernel(another important oil palm produce) is also produces in large quantities in Nigeria. Palm kernel oil output however, declined from 419,000 metric tons during the period 1960 to 1965 to 358,000 metric tonl between 1985 to 1987. The palm kernel cake, which is a vital ingredient in livestock feed production is a by-product of palm kernel crushing. The palm kernel oil, and used extensively in the bakery industry and for making ice cream, detergents, toilet soaps and creams is also a by-product of palm kernels. Palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake are obtained in the process of crushing palm kernels.
The popular palm wine which is also of socio-economic importance domestically is obtained from the male inflorescence. In some parts of Nigeria, the trade in palm wine competes greatly with that of palm oil.
The leaflets of the oil palm are used for making thatch for roofing houses, the leaf rachises are used for fencing, reinforcing mud houses and making baskets. The midribs of the leaflets are used for making brooms. The palm cabbage, soft tissues around the apical bud, serve as a food delicacy. The bunch refuse which is left after the fruits have been removed from the fruit bunches is a rich source of potassium. Locally it is used for making soap(potassium hydroxide KaOH lye). The fibre residue, left after the oil has been extracted from the fruits provides furl while the shell from cracked palm nuts provides not only fuel but also serves as an aggregate for flooring houses.
The trunk is sawn into timber and used in constructing fences, roofing houses and reinforcing buildings.
Technological Importance
The difficulties and economic disadvantages of the traditional primitive peasant method of process in have driven a great change in technology and has spawned the development of small scale motorized processing equipment.
In an attempt to solve these problems the Nigerian Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) has developed an integrated and motorized continuous process digester screwpress (DSP). This equipment is simple to operate, easy to maintain, reliable in use, labour saving and consistently efficient. This continuous and motorized technology, developed in Nigeria solves some of the oil palm fruit processing problems in Nigeria.