Chapter 11. Oil palm industry growth in Africa: a value chain and smallholders’ study for Ghana 365
4.4 Production and marketing structures for small oil palm producers
A. Results from focus group discussions with smallholder producers
Producers generally operated medium (5-10 acres) to large scale (>10 acres) farms and were mostly
private producers. There appeared to be some outgrowers and some private smallholder farmers at Kwae.
The major agronomic differences between the private smallholder farmer and the outgrower are the
types of planting materials they use and methods of weed control. Some of the private outgrowers use
volunteer seedlings, while GOPDC supplied improved seedlings to their outgrowers. For weed control, the
private smallholder farmers use cutlasses while some of the outgrowers use weedicides.
Improved seedlings are acquired from Kusi, where the Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) is located. OPRI is the
only institution fully dedicated to research into oil palm. It is also the only institution that produces seed nuts
in the country and is currently estimated to have the capacity to produce 5 million of palm seeds per year.
Seeds and seedlings are expensive, but farmers have access to fertilizers on the market at a subsidized rate.
Almost all the agro-chemical dealers in the district are located in Kade, and thus all agro-chemical products
are obtained from surrounding towns such as Kade and/or Nkawantanang. Some farmers indicated they
obtain inputs from GOPDC. Nursery operations are carried out by individual oil palm producers. Men usually
perform input sales and distribution roles because, according to the farmers, the men are more experienced.
Palm fruits are harvested every month; in peak seasons, as much as 30 tonnes per hectare can be
harvested, while in lean seasons, only about 2.2 to 3.3 tonnes can be harvested. No type of harvesting
service is provided by any government or private agency.
Women are mostly involved in palm oil processing and marketing, palm fruit marketing, and palm kernel
processing and marketing. Children are seldom used as workers on the oil palm farms. The workers
average age is around 20 years and percentage of household members involved in some typical oil palm
activities are summarized as follows:
- FFB production: (Male-75%; Female-25%)
- Palm oil processing: (Male-20%; Female-80%)
- Palm oil marketing: (Male-20%; Female-80%)
In the marketing of produce, particularly processed palm oil, women are in the majority The domestic
palm oil market is dominated by private marketers of either women groups processing to selling directly
to local markets, or to private marketers for distribution within or outside the borders of the country.
It costs between GHC 137-190 per harvesting cycle to maintain the oil palm average production per acre
(see Table 10).