The Chairman of Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria (POFON), Mr Emmanuel Ibru, has expressed optimism in the forum’s plans to stabilise the prices of crude palm oil in the country.

The forum said the decision was to ensure that the have and the have-not are able to purchase the product for their daily needs.

Chairman of the POFON, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen after the forum meeting in Benin, said the prices for the cooking palm oil would be stabilised throughout the year-round in the country irrespective of the production seasons.

Ibru, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Aden River Estates Limited, an agro-industrial subsidiary of Ibru organisation, said just as the Nigeria governments are working to stabilise the country’s economy, so also is the interest in POFON to make sure that prices of palm oil also remain stable.

“In Nigeria, we have two seasons for palm oil. When it is peak season, the prices will go down, and when it is lean season, the prices will go up. Our members are trying to see what they can do this time around to stabilise the prices so that there is not much difference between the peak and lean seasons prices.

“POFON and its members have resolved this year to try and ensure that we maintain a stable price in the commodity even throughout the off-peak.

“We are not unaware of the inflationary trends. We know that the cost of inputs is going up, but despite that, it is also our duty to ensure that we maintain a satisfactory price profile in the market,” he said.

He said in doing that members are also investing in expanding their plantations geared towards increasing their capacity to meet the local demands in the Nigeria market.

“There is no doubt that there is still a gap in the supply and demand of palm oil in Nigeria, but POFON and its members over the last 10 and 15 years have made tremendous efforts to increase the production of oil palm in the country.

“Some new players have come in, the traditional large holders such as Presco and Okomu have continued to invest and expand their plantation holdings, while new players such as Dufil, Saro Africa and others have come into Edo State.

“Saro Africa has developed the essence of 20,000 hectares in Edo State, Wilmar has just acquired the shareholding of PZ Wilmar from their former joint partner and are in the process of developing yet another 8,500 hectares, that will bring their holdings in Nigeria to close to 50,000 hectares.

“JB farms have increased their holdings in Cross River State and are also in the process of developing a further 10,000 hectares again in Ondo State. We also have an Agric Palm, which has continued to increase its holdings.

“There are also new players who have acquired lands but hope to start in the next one to two years. So, in all attempts have been made we can see those attempts coming to fruition. I will say that about eight years ago, the total amount of Crude Palm oil (CPO) produced in the country was in the region of 900,000 to one million tons per year.

“Today we have been able to increase it to about 1.4 million to 1.5 million, which means there has been a 50 per cent increase of production, which is no mean achievement,” he added.