Adapalm mills Nigeria limited, located in Ohaji in Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta local government area of Imo state, was established in 1983 by the first civilian government of Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe. At inception, the plantation had more than 800 employees and making an annual sales estimated to be over one billion naira.
It was set up by Mbakwe administration to complement the efforts of past administrations in the old eastern region in setting up farm settlements in various parts of the region.
Located on a vast area of land today Adapalm is a ghost of its former self as the project site has been taken over by weeds, rodents and hideouts for all types of criminal elements. Despite the cries over the poor state of the plantation, successive governments in old and present Imo state have paid lip service to this all-important sector.
Patterned after the famous Kibutz Farm settlement in Israel, Adapalm was renamed Imo Palm Plantation by the past administration of Governor Rochas Okorocha and efforts were made to revive it. But all this came to nothing. It is now in ruins, completely grounded and abandoned by both the state government and an Irish company Roche Group, which took over the management of the company.
However, the poor state of the establishment has attracted the attention of the present government of Emeka Ihedioha, which appeared bent on bringing back the lost glory of the once burgeoning enterprise.
A visit by officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the site appeared to bring a ray of hope to the company. The CBN team, comprising the Special Adviser to the CBN Governor on Development Finance, Mr. Tony Ifechukwu, and Head, Development Finance Office, Mr. Michael Ananambiet, were on ground to conduct examination of physical facilities at Adapalm, including the Milling Plant
According to the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Enlightenment, Prince Eze Ugochukwu, the mill is expected to benefit from Anchor Borrowers Fund, domiciled in the CBN and specifically targeted at growing the agricultural sector and Imo state fall into the palm plantation belt of the southern Nigeria.
The aim is to create a palm plantation hub and a value chain for the products of the mill. The plan is also to, according to him, make Adapalm not only a hub of oil palm processing in the East, but also a base to teach production management to small holder palm owners to process their produce.
He said: “The CBN is interested in transforming the milling section so that the mill can take not only palm nuts from Adapalm, but also from other small farms. Instead of selling the nuts raw, small farmers can take their palms to the mill, process it and get value for their money. The products can now be raw materials for other industries.”
Ifechukwu, after visiting the site, promised that everything would be put in place to revive the fortunes of Adapalm. He charged the Interim Management Committee to submit to CBN within 30 days their work plan and technical audit in order to take advantage of the fruiting season.
The visit is coming at the back of the CBN report to enhance palm production in the country. The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had said that the bank has committed about N30 billion to enhance oil-palm production in the country.
Adapalm is expected to benefit from the fund, which would be disbursed through deposit money banks to six oil palm companies to support their expansion programmes.
