Introduction

The Oil Palm is one of the most unique trees in the world. It is the only tree which can produce two oils with different chemical compositions – Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil – and can also produce wines and alcohol.

The oil palm exists in a wild, semi-wild and cultivated state in the three land areas of the Equatorial Tropics: in Africa, in South East Asia and in America. It is the highest yielding of all oil bearing plants.

Before the 20th Century the products of the palm dominated the economic, social and environmental lives of people in the Southern part of Nigeria. Together with raffia palm and yam, it sustained the existence of the people. Their numerous products were used as building materials, household utilities, occupational tools and town socials.

>> Click to view various Oil Palm Products

In the 20th Century oil palm created wealth for Nigeria. It was responsible for the economic miracle of Malaysia and is now instrumental in the economic leap forward of Indonesia.

With the discovery of Fossil Fuel, Nigeria neglected its main source of wealth in the periods up to 1970 – oil palm, cocoa, groundnuts – for the Black Gold. The Country has now realised that dependence on a mono product is not healthy for an economy or a country, so a serious attempt is now being made to revitalize the old crops.

Our Family and indeed the people of Igboland have always had faith in the economic powers of the red pot of gold scattered all over the length and breadth of our Nation. So in 1993 we commenced the establishment of Oil Palm plantations and distributed the Fresh Fruit Bunches to the Local Processors.
As at today, the price is N160 per Fresh Fruit Bunch as against the standard market price of N200 per Fresh Fruit Bunch.

We also have vast hectares of land (2000 hectares) which at the moment is not economically utilized for farming under our present shifting cultivation methods where lands lie fallow for about seven years before it is used for yam and cassava farming.

The traditional method of producing Palm Oil used by the Local Processors is labourious. It entails harvesting, fermentation and manual/mechanical processing.

View Pictures of the Traditional method

The implication of this is that takes almost 10 days or more to produce Palm Oil of low grade with high FFA.

EFB Industries Limited was formed to establish an Integrated Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil Mill/Vegetable Oil Refinery thereby taking advantage of the modern and mechanized system of processing oil palm fruits.

EFB Industries Limited has access to palm plantations which can feed the mill of a continuous basis. As at today, there are over 12,000 oil palm trees on ground – an average of 2,000 individual fruits (fresh fruit bunches) per year

VIEW OUR PLANTATION

The Benefits of the Oil Mill are:-

1) Automation of the processing of palm oil and its by-products which will reduce the processing time by 10 days. For example 225kg would be produced within 8 hours.

2) Provision of employment opportunities for the catchment areas (Nkwebi, Ohafia L.G.A.), Abia State and Nigeria in general as the Company will employ people (directly and indirectly). This will result in a decrease in the unemployment in Nkwebi, its environs and Nigeria as a whole.

3) This will translate to wealth to Abia State indigenes and increase the Country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

4) Bring development and industrialization to the area and its environs.

5) Have a multiplier effect on Abia State’s economy and Nigeria as a whole in all fronts.

6) Generate revenue for the Local, State and Federal Government.

7) Ancillary and complementary services such as transport, markets, restaurant etc., will be established within the vicinity of the proposed Oil Mill.