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Govt fails to meet 100,000 hectares oil palm target

Mr Charles Ssenfuma checks oil palm fruit bunches on August 27, 2024. PHOTO/DENIS SSEBWAMI

What you need to know:

  • Only 55,583 hectares of oil palm plantations have been planted, compared to the target of 100,000 hectares.

The government has admitted that it is failing to hit the planned target of growing an additional 100,000 hectares of oil palm plantations by 2025, as earlier projected. On December 21 2022, the government unveiled a grand plan to plant at least 100,000 hectares of oil palm by 2025 to satisfy the increasing local demand for edible oils and also substitute its oil palm imports. 

According to Mr Anthony Wanyoto, the communication and knowledge management officer-in-charge of the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP) at the Ministry of Agriculture, only 55,583 hectares of oil palm plantations have been planted, compared to the target of 100,000 hectares. He blamed the failure to hit the target on unforeseen challenges in the last three years. 

“We have faced several challenges during the process of realising our dream. There were issues to do with land acquisition, identifying good seedlings and fulfilling environment and social impact assessment procedures, which consume a lot of time,’’ he told this publication yesterday. Mr Wanyoto said the government prefers oil palm compared to other oil seeds because it is 10 times more productive per unit area than any other crop. 

Mr Wanyoto said the government through National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) and private companies are making sure oil palm seedlings are readily available to outgrowers who want to embrace oil palm growing across the country. “With these deliberate interventions, the long-awaited inputs that have been a great stumbling block towards the project success will be availed to farmers,” he said. 

Mr Wilson Sserunjogi, the focal person of Buvuma Oil Palm project hub, said the government has also availed funds needed to pay bibanja holders who surrendered their land for the project. A section of residents in Buvuma District had blocked oil palm growing on private land until they received their compensation packages. 

Although the government agreed to pay for private land to expand the project,some residents fear that they may not get their money due to delays.

“We received some money to pay claimants who were blocking the project. So far, we have planted 4,216 hectares against the planned 10,372 hectares. But the government facilitation has helped us to get more seedlings and more land, so, we are likely to hit our target for Buvuma by August this year,’’ Mr Sserunjogi said.

Demand for edible oil
Currently, Uganda produces between 83,000 metric tonnes and 97,000 metric tonnes of cooking oil annually, but consumes about 200,000 metric tonnes annually. According to State minister for Agriculture, Mr Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, the targeted acreage of oil palm trees was to enable the country to get the required 410,000 metric tonnes of oil products by 2025. 

The minister is optimistic that the government would save close to $290 million (about Shs1 trillion) in foreign exchange annually if it substituted its imports with locally produced edible oils. Alongside oil palm, the government is also targeting to increase the growth of oil seeds such as sunflower and simsim.

About oil palm
Oil palm cultivation started on Kalangala’s Buggala Island two decades ago. At least 11,800 hectares of oil palm trees have so far been planted. 

Initially, the government was supposed to make 40,000 hectares available for planting oil palm trees. However, so far, less than half has been provided. The government’s wider plan is to expand the edible oil industry in the entire country. 

Apart from Kalangala, Buvuma, Kyotera, Mayuge Namayingo, Bugiri districts have embraced oil palm growing. More districts in Central, Eastern, Northern and West Nile regions are yet to be considered under the second phase of implementation of the project. 

In Masaka, a total of 2,000 hectares of the targeted 4,000 hectares of land have already been secured for oil palm cultivation in sub-counties inlcuding Bukakkata, Kyanamukkakka and Kyesiiga. 

In the neighbouring Kyotera District, more than 1,225 people have already registered with the Sango Bay Oil Palm Growers Cooperative Society Limited and with facilitation from the government they are ready to plant about 4,250 acres.