The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Friday, flagged off the second phase of the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP), with about 50,000 hectares of land at Okogbo Community in Orhionmwon Local Council of the state.
  
Obaseki, who led over 20 new oil palm investors in the state to perform the ceremonial planting at Okogbo Community, said that the commencement of the second phase followed the impact and success recorded in the first phase of the programme, which has repositioned the state as the number one sub-national with the largest oil palm development programme in Africa.
  
Obaseki said: “We are here with new investors in the ESOPP Phase 2 Programme. After phase one was launched over two years ago, we are launching ESOPP Phase Two with a new set of investors to off-take almost 50,000 hectares of land for oil palm development. ESOPP Phase One covered 70,000 hectares of land. We are here on a tour to see what those we have given land have done with the land, and to show those who have applied to participate in this programme what their expectations are.
 
“When we took office in 2016, we decided to undertake a forest audit in 2017 to investigate the level of degradation of our vegetation in Edo State and found out that our forest reserves have been heavily deforested, and many of them degraded. We decided to make those areas we could not re-forest available for oil palm investors because it’s a high-yielding crop that will help conserve the environment.