A local palm oil miller in Edo State, Friday Osasuyi, has said that there is market for palm oil production and its value chain in the state.
Speaking with Daily Trust on Sunday on palm oil value chain, Osasuyi said some of the oil millers either own palm oil plantations or rent a plantation from farmers.
“In palm oil mill business, if you plant the palm, within a period of three years, they will start producing and by the fourth year, you will start harvesting.
“But if you don’t want to plant, you have to rent a plantation from farmers, and you can get a plantation for N1 million, N5 or N10 million depending on the size of the plantation.”
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He said some people also buy palm plants from farmers, adding “A bunch of it costs N10,000 but when price is low, it will come down to N8,000.”
“We get the palm oil for milling by buying the plant from the plantation farmers and pay drivers who convey the product to the factory for milling.
“For instance, if you buy products of N150,000, transporting them to the factory may cost between N25,000 and N30,000 depending on the distance between the farm and the factory.
“As for me, I rented a plantation farm from a farmer for four years at N2m (N500,000 a year). You can see plantations of N5m, N10m and N15m depending on the size.”
He said, “there is market for oil palm because the moment you finish milling, dealers and market women are there to buy for you. A drum of palm oil now cost N250,000 but it used to be N350,000.”
He said although he is not the owner of the factory where he mills, but with N6m, one could go a long way in getting facilities for the factory.
According to him, some of the major facilities needed to set up a factory include lister generator, tank, presser, digester and separator, among others.
He said if one doesn’t have money to buy from the market, one can contact welders to fabricate most of the items.
“A lister generator is about N400,000 now, to fabricate a tank for boiling the palm fruits is over N150,000 and the separator is about N300,000 now.”
Osasuyi told Daily Trust that he has two permanent staff on salary of 35,000 and four causal workers who are earning a living from his business.
When asked about the profit, he simply said, “I have been in the business of milling for 15 years and it is good, it enables me to take care of my family and put things in order and I am not lacking.”
