Regional Director, Solidaridad West Africa Isaac Gyamfi has implored government to focus on improving the de-oiling of palm fruits for increased productivity.

The enhanced de-oiling, he believes will make the oil palm industry reap its full potentials to bolster economic growth and transformation.

Ghana is seen as a country with all it takes to grow the oil palm plantation sector and the ability to reduce vegetable oil importation, which could reposition it to become a leading exporter of oil palm like Malaysia and Indonesia.

Speaking in an interview with Ghanaweb, the Solidaridad West Africa director explained that “productivity is a function of a number of things. It is not just about having the right planting materials. We are also intervening at the processing level”.

He was quick to stress that, “ if we can enhance de-oiling, that is the extraction of the crude palm oil from the fruit, then the results is that we will produce more. We are helping farmers in terms of best farming practices as well as processing level.

Isaac Gyamfi spoke to Ghanaweb during the inauguration of a National Advisory Committee to oversee the activities of the National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS) project.

NISCOPS is a project of Solidaridad West Africa, funded by the Government of the Kingdom of Netherland to build the capacity of smallholder oil palm farmers. Solidaridad West Africa focuses on stimulating sustainable supply chains through innovations in production, marketing and trade relations, landscape management and policy enabling. In these efforts, Solidaridad simultaneously addresses food security, nutrition and community development.