The Edo State government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU) with seven oil palm investors under the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP) investors group.
Some of the investors are Agroallied Resources Limited, Agripalm Limited, Saturn Farms Limited; Saro Oil Palm; Fayus Nigeria Limited and Farm Forte Agro Allied Limited.
The state governor, Godwin Obaseki while signing the agreement in Benin, said the MOU, which is valued at N100 billion, would help to increase oil palm production and rejuvenate the sector for global competitiveness.
According to him, the journey started a while ago, but today’s event marks the beginning where allottees will take over the plots allocated to them to cultivate oil palm in the state.
“This exercise today, which involves the signing of 45,000 hectares of land to about seven companies for the purpose of cultivation of oil palm will make Edo one of the largest, if not the largest oil producing state in Nigeria.
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This is the first phase. And the second phase, which we hope will be concluded this year, will be about the same size of land.
“At the end of this programme, when our investors may have cultivated over 100,000 hectares, we would be providing over 200,000 jobs at a minimum. It will make the state more competitive in the oil palm production business,” Obaseki said.
Obaseki, who thanked the investors for their interests in the state, reassured that his administration would create the enabling environment for businesses to yield good returns.
“We will do our best to provide infrastructure like access roads. We want to inform you that the main entry leading to your farm, the Benin-abraka Road, has been awarded and construction will commence immediately.
“We want to use this opportunity to thank the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for supporting agricultural development in Nigeria, particularly the oil palm programme and assure you that the almost N100 billion that you will be spending on this investment will be one that will yield for you the required returns,” he said.
