PZ Wilmar and the Nigeria Institute of Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost palm oil production through research and human capacity building.
The event, which took place in Abuja, was witnessed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh.
Mr Kola Jamodu, Chairman, PZ Wilmar, who signed on behalf of the company, said that the essence of the MoU was to promote research into how Nigeria could regain its lost position in Palm oil production.
Jamodu said that PZ Wilmar had three locations covering 30, 000 hectares of land and the first set of the company’s fruits has started coming out.
According to him, the essence of the whole exercise was to boost production and promote research activities.
He said, “We thought to share our knowledge with NIFOT to translate it into other farmers to provide employment opportunity to thousands or millions of unemployed youths across the country.
Dr Omorefe Asemota, Executive Director, NIFOR, said that this was a milestone for the country and the palm oil industry in the country because PZ was a major stakeholders in the development of agricultural sector.
He said, “We need investors and strong research because that is where PZ input comes in, in term of technology input and between this two, you need synergy.
“It is important for research to fill the impulse of the industry and it is also important for the industry to partner directly with the research institutions for quality output.
“We are very pleased that PZ and NIFOR had long discussion and had been able to reach this understanding today. We are looking forward to a very bright future.”
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