How To Start Highly Profitable Palm Tree Plantation Business In Nigeria

Palm tree plantation is no doubt the most profitable and useful plantation in the world today. There is nothing in a palm tree that is not important and useful to human beings. The extraction of red oil from red oil palm fruit has been in practice for many centuries.

See: How to start profitable sugarcane business in Nigeria

For you to fully understand and follow what this article is saying about palm tree plantation, you need to study its positive impact on the economy of Malaysia. The economy of Malaysia is more than 50% dependent on palm oil production from their palm tree plantation. As of today, Malaysia currently produces above 22 million tonnes of red palm oil yearly. This currently places them behind Indonesia which is by far the largest producer of palm oil in the world.

It will surprise you to know that Malaysia got their palm fruit from Nigeria that was once a force to reckon with in palm oil production in the world. If the wealth and economy of countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand could depend on palm tree plantation business; you can imagine the enormous wealth that you can build from it.

The question to ask is this, why has many agribusiness investors and farmers in Nigeria not ceased this opportunity in palm tree plantation business? To answer that question, I will say that it is mostly because of the believe that palm tree takes many years to mature and yield palm fruits from which palm oil and palm kernel oil is extracted.

Let me be the one to break to you if you are still among those which such beliefs. There are varieties of genetically engineered palm fruits which when planted takes just two years to yield fruit for your palm oil and palm kernel oil production in Nigeria. So, you see that within two years, you will start reaping the wealth that is stored in palm tree plantation. The only thing needed is for you to start.

The objective of this article is to help and guide you on how best to start your own palm tree plantation in Nigeria, so that you can start benefiting from this goldmine. Needless to wait anymore, because the earlier you start this farming business of palm tree plantation n Nigeria, the earlier you start amassing the wealth it holds.

There is no doubt that oil palm plantation in Nigeria is a goldmine that is yet to be tapped into.

How To Set Up Your Palm Tree Plantation Farm In Nigeria

For you to be successful in this palm tree plantation business in Nigeria, need all the information you can get on the establishment of palm tree plantation. This information is what we have tried to bring to you through this article. Just keep on reading, and be rest assured you will be glad you did. In order to start your palm tree plantation, you have to follow the following guidelines listed below:

1. Have a well detailed business plan

To be successful in this oil palm plantation business in Nigeria, you need to have a very good palm plantation business plan. The palm tree plantation involves a lot of things that you need to decide which particular niche to focus on.

This is because from the palm tree plantation, you get red palm oil, palm kernel oil, the palm fronds for roofing of houses in the rural areas, the sap, also called palm wine, palm kernel and many others. It is in your business plan that you decide which one or more of the aforementioned areas that you want to venture into.

Read: How to start sorghum farming business in Nigeria

You will decide in your business plan whether to process the red palm oil from the palm fruit or would you rather be selling to oil palm processing companies. Will you be selling palm kernel oil or just the palm kernel?  Are you going to focus on the local Nigerian market, or will you go into exportation of your palm tree plantation produce.

So, you see the reason having a well detailed business plan is number one on the list of requirements to starting your own palm tree plantation business in Nigeria.

2. Startup capital

You should know that starting a palm tree plantation farming business in Nigeria is a capital intensive agribusiness venture. This is because, you need to buy or rent a land, buy the palm seedlings, hire laborers, and also maintain the palm tree plantation for at least 2 years before you can start making money from your oil palm plantation in Nigeria.

It is very imperative that you note that once the money starts flowing in from your oil palm plantation in Nigeria, there is no stopping it at all. It is always challenging to start, but you need to set your sight on the goal and objective of your palm tree plantation farm. When you become the largest producer of oil palm in Nigeria, you won’t remember the pain during the starting stages.

3. Acquire a suitable land

Once your startup capital for the oil palm plantation is ready, you can then proceed to getting a suitable land for the palm tree plantation in Nigeria. The good thing here is that lands in Southern Nigeria are very good for oil palm plantation. Get good quantity of the land in acres in a well situated location.

You take some samples of the land to Nigerian Institute for oil palm Research (NIFOR) in Edo state for them to verify if it can support oil palm growth and development.

Once NIFOR has given you the nod, the next thing to do is to prepare the land. You can make use of tractors to level and thrash the land before you plant your palm seedlings.

4. How to acquire your seedlings

For the acquisition of your palm seedlings, there are two ways to go about it:

• Buy already germinated seedlings, or
• Germinate your own seeds

To buy your seedlings, you should go to the agricultural institutes like NIFOR to purchase your seedlings at about N200 per seedling. The advantage of buying already germinated seedlings is that is saves time. It is also a more costly approach.

Germinating your own seedlings is less costly but time consuming. All you need to do is buy high yield seeds from NIFOR that have already germinated. Once you purchased them, transfer the seeds into small nylon bags filled with black loamy soil. The small nylon bags can also be bought from NIFOR in Edo State.

You will leave these young seedlings in the nursery for 4-6 months before transferring them into the farm. It is recommended that you start germinating your own seedlings for your palm tree plantation around October or November. This is to ensure that by the time it is 6 months, the raining season has already started. The rain will help the young palm seedlings to adapt with ease to the new environment.

5. Best way to plant your palm seedlings

There is a standard for planting palm seedlings in a palm tree plantation. If you do it the way you like, during harvest you will want to slap yourself because the production will be very low. Below are the best ways to plant your palm seedlings in order to achieve maximum output:

• Spacing of the palm tree

The spacing is better left at 7 meters by 7 meters in a triangular shape. The first weeding and fertilizer application can be done within the first 2-3 months of transplanting the palm seedlings into the farm.

• Right palm tree density

It will be of no benefit to you in the long run if you have too much palm trees on a particular piece of land. To ensure that the right density is used in your palm tree plantation business in Nigeria, you have to make sure that the pegging is done perfectly.

You must ensure that the distance between rows and columns are the same all through the palm tree plantation farm land.  When the palm trees are too close to each other, their roots don’t have enough space and the palm fronds don’t have enough sunlight. All these will accumulate to bring about low yield during harvest.

For the proper pegging, you need to leave about 7.8 meters between rows and about 9 meters between columns. By following this procedure, you can plant about 143 palm trees in one hectare.

Having done your possible best I starting your palm tree plantation farm in Nigeria, what is  left is for you to keep maintaining your oil palm plantation until it’s time for harvest. Once its harvest time, its cash inflow all year round for you.

I sure hope you enjoined your reading and have learnt a lot as well. You can always leave your comment in the space provided below.

ATTENTION…

At Entrepreneur Nigeria, we provide business plan writing services on any business niche of your choice.  Our business plans are MBA standard and be rest assured you will be glad you contacted us today. You can reach us on +2347037281050. Your business plan will be available within just 2 weeks of your order.

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