IDH, in cooperation with key partners, launched the Sustainable Landscapes Program in Nigeria.
Within this program, IDH and partners will develop action plans supporting sustainable production, natural resources protection, and social inclusion to create market traction and a pipeline of investable projects. This PPI (Production, Protection, and Inclusion) approach requires collaboration between governments, public institutions, the private sector, and civil society organizations, and will focus initially on the oil palm belt in Edo State and Ondo State.
Nigeria is one of the major producers of palm oil in the West Africa sub region. The oil palm belt states have large concentrations of independent smallholders, a group that nation-wide accounts for more than 80% of Nigeria’s palm oil production. Given the constraints related to improvements in production of palm oil (e.g. lack of access to sufficient and quality planting materials, ill-timed delivery of inputs, and unreliable distribution), as well as the risks of natural resources degradation including deforestation, the Nigeria Landscape program will address challenges and leverage existing public and private initiatives to build concrete action and investment opportunities to benefit local actors and grow the sector.
Improving smallholder farming has the potential to provide significant economic opportunity while embracing sustainable, climate-smart agricultural practices.
The Nigeria Landscapes program is part of the IDH-Solidaridad partnership on strengthening existing or new national initiatives to enable sustainable climate smart oil palm production by smallholders. In addition to this work in Nigeria, IDH and Solidaridad are also intensifying their combined efforts in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The IDH Landscape program launch in Nigeria was attended by representatives of the public, private and civil society sectors, including the governments of Edo and Ondo State, oil palm companies, the National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), the Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN),the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the Netherlands Embassy.
