Between 1961 and 1965 world oil palm
production was 1.5 million tons, with Nigeria
accounting for 43%. However, since then, oil palm
production in Nigeria has virtually been stagnated.
But today, world oil palm production amounts to
14.4 million tons, with Nigeria which is one of the
largest producers in West Africa, accounting for
only 7%. Kei et al (1997) compared the
characteristics of the Oil palm sectors in Malaysia
and Nigeria and found out that Malaysia’s success is built on plantation management together with
processing in large modern bills. The plantation
mode of production is characterized by large scale
monoculture under unified management. In
Nigeria by contrast, 80% of production comes
from dispersed small holders who harvest semi
wild plants and use manual processing techniques.
Several million smallholders are spread over an
estimated area of 1.65 million hectares in the
southern part of Nigeria. In addition, to the agroclimatic
and structural (size and scale of
production and processing sectors) there are other
environmental and coordination factors like little
use of modern inputs and extension service;
previously controlled by monopoly marketing
board; low provisions of market information,
standards and quality control (Udom,1986)