Cross River says it secured $15m oil palm investment

The Cross River government has secured a private sector investment of $15 million for the Ayip Eku Oil Palm Estate in Akamkpa Local Government Area of the state, Gov. Bassey Otu said.

The governor, who came to office in May, said the state plans to leverage on the state’s comparative advantage in agriculture to provide the needed employment opportunities and also to guarantee food security.

The state has developed a six-year N30 billion agriculture guarantee fund for rice, maize, fisheries and livestock farmers, he told journalists Friday in the capital Calabar to mark his 100 days in office.

He did not give say who the investors are. Ayip Eku was set up as a federal company in 1979 but has struggled for years as ownership changed.

Rich but poor

Cross River has reserves of limestone and other solid minerals and has perhaps Nigeria’s riches amount of forest resources. Yet the state is one of the country’s poorest, relying largely on federal allocations.

Past efforts to revitalise agriculture and tourism did not achieve much despite overly ambitious promises by Mr Otu’s predecessor, Ben Ayade.

Mr Otu said a 100-hectare of cassava would be cultivated within the next one year while the government had commenced planting of 3.5 million hybrid oil palm seedlings in 13 locations across the state.

“In order to ascertain with precision, the soil texture for specific crops in the different zones of the state, government has commenced the state-wide digital soil fertility mapping,” he said.

“This is to ensure that all we are doing will translate to greater yields of different crops.

“Also, in partnership with the Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (ORGAN), the state government has commenced the planting of 3.5million hybrid oil palm seedlings in 13 identified locations across.

He said 50 starter-rice growers have been given free rice seedlings, fertiliser and pesticides, while 30 starter-livestock farmers have been assisted with day old chicks and feeds.