Palm kernel cake and resolution of conflicts with Fulani herdsmen.

Palm oil is the world’s most widely produced oil, and growing global demand has naturally increased the supply of PKC. While India, Europe and China are the major palm oil importing countries, the bulk of PKC exports go to New Zealand and Europe. All over West Africa, investments are being made in palm plantations and processing plants. Of the world’s 23 major producers of PKC, 10 are West African, accounting for some 370,000 metric tons annually. Nigeria leads with 75,000 metric tons, followed by Ghana with 56,000 and the Ivory Coast with 53,000. Small exporters account for the bulk of current export figures,this is expected to change quite soon, as bigger producers enter the market. The Siat Group, with palm plantations in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, raised Ghana’s output potential significantly when its local subsidiary, GOPDC, started the first production of pelletized PKC in 2014. Even though small farmers account for most palm oil and PKC production, big plantation investors are driving recent production increases. A significant amount of PKC is used domestically as cattle feed in Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is fed to feedlot cattle at very high levels. It is a common practice in Malaysia to produce complete feeds based on PKC, either as pellets, cubes or total mixed ration. PKC is widely known in West Africa as a viable feed ingredient, but until recently it has been mostly used as a source of energy and fiber in poultry, pig and fish rations. PKC has traditionally been used by small holders as a complimentary cattle feed source, its deployment in large herd cattle feed is a recent development. Experts believe that PKC has the potential to make West Africa self sufficient in beef production, and thus solve the major headache associated with dependence on Fulani herdsmen. West Africa also has the potential to substantially increase revenues from PKC exports. PKC has the potential to solve a major problem associated with beef supply in the sub-region. Most of West Africa’s beef consumption is supplied by semi-nomadic Fulani herdsmen, originally from the Sahelian parts of Africa, who can now be found across West and Central Africa. In recent times, they have been involved in often violent clashes with farmers of towns and villages where they have driven their cattle, destroying crops and water sources. There are regular reports of criminal behavior among the herdsmen. In April, the Nigerian president ordered a crackdown on Fulani herdsmen who had killed scores of people across the nation. In Ghana, farmers and residents of various communities have often demanded action by government against armed Fulani herdsmen who have regularly destroyed crops, polluted water sources and committed various criminal offenses. And in March, 17 people died when Fulani herdsmen clashed with crop farmers in the northeastern town of Bouna in Cote d’Ivoire. Governments are seeking to establish ranches as means of solving this problem. On May 10, 2016, Nigeria’s Minister of State, Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri, announced that the federal government was planning to establish cattle ranches to solve the problem of continuous clashes between the herdsmen and farmers. The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, announced recently that government had imported grass seedlings from Brazil, to be grown at “massive grasslots” for feeding cattle. Agricultural experts, have criticized and even derided the idea. While government officials believe that the “massive grasslots” would start producing feed for cattle within two years, most informed observers say this is highly optimistic, given the major financial problems facing government, and the logistic issues involved in implementing such a scheme. They argue that Nigeria and its West African neighbors can solve this apparently intractable problem by deploying palm kernel cake in addition to their limited grassland resources. The viability of PKC, they state, is already proven, and it can be produced in vast quantities for local cattle production, and to increase export revenue. It is an interesting fact that, for many years, West Africans have used PKC and other agricultural by-products in dry season fattening of cattle in small feedlots, where cattle are fattened for 90 to 120 days. This is done to increase weight gain, carcass quality and carcass yield. Governments resolve to stop the cross-territorial herding of cattle,can be solved by PKC .A substantial amount PKC used within Malaysia and Indonesia is used to feed dairy cows ,while in Ghana dairy production is based on imported bulk milk products and Nigeria imports 75 percent.Continue