Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) tree is a very useful plant, because every part (fruit, palm front etc) of the tree is useful to human, but it takes a lot of effort to plant and several years to mature, which is the major reason Nigerian farmers don’t invest into it, because they want quick return on investment, but it is a lucrative business to invest into.
Steps in Establishing Oil Palm Plantation
- Get a land that is suitable for oil palm (fertile land).
- Grow your seeds or you can buy the seedlings.
- The seeds can germinate very fast by keeping it in a very hot room, but if kept in an environment that is not hot, it can take longer time (years) to germinate.
- Prepare the palm nursery.
- Transfer the germinated seeds into containers with loam soil. Leave the seedlings in the containers for about 4 to 6 months when new leaves begin to grow, before you start transplanting the seedling to the nursery.
- Allow the seedling to remain in the nursery for about a year, by then it would have brought out more leaves.
- Prepare the land (plantation).
- Dig holes in the plantation and peg the holes, allow it for some days, fill the holes with the soil you dug out before transplanting the seedlings, with proper spacing (peg 7.8 meters between rows and 9 meters between pegs), because if you don’t give the oil palm proper spacing and their roots eventually meet each other, you will have low yield.
- Transfer the seedling from the nursery to the plantation (the land you prepared).
- It is advisable for you to transfer your seedling from the nursery to the plantation during raining season.
- Weed and apply fertilizer after 3 to 4 months after the seedlings have been transferred to the plantation.
- Protect your seedlings from predators by using wire netting and then spread mulch about 20 centimetres huge around the seedlings.
- Constantly maintain the plantation.
- You can start harvesting your oil palm from 24 to 25 months after transplanting your seedlings to the plantation.
The good news is, once you succeed in planting the oil palm, you will continue to harvest from time to time without replanting.
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