Stakeholders in oil palm industry urge Malaysian counterparts to invest in Ghana

Players in the palm oil industry have engaged the Malaysian High Commission to encourage Malaysian palm oil firms to invest in Ghana’s palm oil industry.

The industry players want their counterparts in Malaysia to speed up Ghana’s transition period of becoming self-sufficient with the production of oil palm.

Reports have it that Europeans in Malaysia in the early 1900 travelled to Ghana to learn about oil palm plantation cultivation and managed to take away seeds, and production techniques to grow their industry.

This has enabled Malaysia to be named the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia as their economy largely rests on the commodity.

The country’s palm oil industry, according to statistics, produces about 90 million tonnes of lignocellulosic biomass, including empty fruit bunches, oil palm trunks, and oil palm fronds, as well as palm oil mill effluent (POME).

Meanwhile, Ghana’s oil palm plantation cultivation has dwindled as the industry players are seeking to partner their Malaysian counterparts to grow the palm oil sector.

At a business meeting on Friday January 10 in Accra, officials from the Ghana Free Zones Authority, Peekaf Company Limited, challenged the Malaysian High Commissioner to champion the partnership through institutional research, knowledge sharing, equipment manufacturing, strategic investment and technology transfer to accelerate the development of Ghana’s Palm Oil industry.

The Director of Enclaves, Zones and Application at the Ghana Free Zones Authority, Kwame Asante Nsiah after the meeting expounded that the partnership will enable Ghana to learn from Malaysia’s expertise in sustainable palm oil production to take advantage of the huge demand in Africa.

The partnership, according to Mr. Asante Nsiah, equally aims at creating an opportunity to strengthen the bonds between Malaysia and Ghana particularly in the palm oil industry.

The Malaysian High Commissioner, Syed Nauzer Idid on his part praised the leadership of Peekaf Company Limited and the Free Zones Authority for taking a bold step to pool resources with Malaysian palm oil firms to develop Ghana’s palm oil industry.

He described the move by Peekaf Company Limited and Ghana Free Zones Authority as apt and pledged to facilitate a Networking Programme where youth in Agric will travel to Malaysia to be trained in Palm Oil Trade.

The commissioner is optimistic Ghana and Malaysia could collaborate to enhance oil palm trade between the two countries.
The Chief Executive Officer of Peekaf Company Limited, Alex Okyere, on the other hand prayed, industry players in the two countries will adopt strategies for implementing mechanized farming to enhance the production of palm oil to meet the growing demands of Ghana, West Africa, and beyond.

The post Stakeholders in oil palm industry urge Malaysian counterparts to invest in Ghana first appeared on 3News.

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