The Clan Head of Kasuk II Qua Clan, in Calabar, HRM Ntoe (Dr) Ededem Ayito III, in collaboration with the National Board for Technology Incubation, an offshoot of the Federal Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, has launched a 10-turn per day Palm Oil Processing plant in Calabar on Saturday.
Nigeria is the fifth largest producer of Palm Oil globally, with an annual production of 970,000 metric tonnes while Cross River State is the second largest producer in the country, after Edo state.
According to Dr Mrs Agatha Efa, Centre Manager for Technology Incubation Calabar, the factory which is an initiative of Edimentos Limited and is located in Calabar the Cross River State capital, can produce 3,000 bottles of Palm Oil in 72 hours.
“Projects like this are the reasons why the Technology Incubation Center (TIC ) was established in 1999. The goal is to boost the economy, provide employment breach the gap between the very rich and the poor, it is a plus to Nigeria. We have never had something like this from a Native of Cross River State. The capacity of factory is capable of producing 3,000 bottles of Palm Oil within 3 days.”
Presently, the annual palm oil demand in Nigeria stands at 2.5 million metric tonnes, whereas local production stands at 1.25 million tonnes, leaving a gap of 1.25 tonnes.
However, speaking about the capacity of the New Palm Oil Processing factory, the CEO of Edimentos Limited and Clan Head of Kasuk II Qua Clan, HRM Ntoe (Dr) Ededem Ayito III, said though the equipment isn’t of maximum capacity, the factory can produce 10 tonnes per day. He said funding from partners can boost production upwards.
“We have a lot of Oil Palm in Cross River State, but there is no value addition. When the TIC was created, I took advantage of it to add value to Oil Palm for export purposes.
“The equipment can produce up to 10 tonnes per day, but get our raw materials basically from 150 hectares of land currently, we intend to acquire more avenues for raw materials and we are calling financial institutions to come to our aid.”
The project launching attracted many of the traditional leaders in the state who expressed happiness in the project and encouraged that such projects should be increased across the state as they can help to caution against the effect of unemployment and youth restiveness in Cross River State.