{"id":293667,"date":"2025-11-15T18:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/293667\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T18:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T18:17:08","slug":"csir%e2%80%91opri-praises-governments-100000%e2%80%91hectare-oil%e2%80%91palm-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/293667\/","title":{"rendered":"CSIR\u2011OPRI praises government’s 100,000\u2011hectare oil\u2011palm initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dr <\/a>Dr Isaac Danso is the Director and Principal Research Scientist at CSIR\u2011OPRI<\/p>\n

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research \u2013 Oil Palm Research Institute (CSIR\u2011OPRI) has welcomed the government\u2019s plan to develop 100,000 hectares of oil\u2011palm plantations as part of the 2026 budget adjustments.<\/p>\n

In a media briefing, Dr Isaac Danso, Director and Principal Research Scientist at CSIR\u2011OPRI, outlined the institute\u2019s rationale, the challenges facing the sector, and the role it can play in turning the ambitious target into reality. <\/p>\n

He explained that the commendation is rooted in four strategic objectives: reducing the economy\u2019s reliance on cocoa, gold and timber exports; diversifying national revenue sources; creating new growth pillars; and integrating rural communities into the broader economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese goals align directly with the country\u2019s development agenda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the optimism, the institute acknowledged several obstacles that could hinder the programme. <\/p>\n

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These include the widespread use of uncertified planting material that reduces yields, poor agronomic practices among growers, limited processing capacity and low technology adoption, lack of accessible credit facilities for farmers and investors, inadequate funding and logistics for CSIR\u2011OPRI to undertake further research, and low value\u2011addition, with most producers exporting crude palm oil without further processing.<\/p>\n

To support the government\u2019s 100,000\u2011hectare target, CSIR\u2011OPRI has outlined a concrete plan. <\/p>\n

The institute is capable of supplying improved high\u2011yielding hybrid planting material, producing about one million hybrid seedlings per year, each with a yield potential of 25 tonnes per hectare annually and an early\u2011maturing period of 2.5 years. <\/p>\n

Through its subsidiary Ghana Sumatra Ltd., it can generate roughly 12 million pre\u2011germinated seed\u2011nuts annually.<\/p>\n

In total, the project will require 15 million planting materials, all of which can be sourced locally from CSIR\u2011OPRI at Kusi in the Eastern Region. <\/p>\n

Beyond seed supply, the institute will provide technical back\u2011stopping to accredited industrial nursery operators, assist with site selection, farmer training, and agronomic advisory services, and support the formation of farmer associations. <\/p>\n

It also plans to deliver capacity\u2011building programmes to develop manpower for production and value\u2011addition, including training Ministry of Food and Agriculture staff on technology adoption. <\/p>\n

Additionally, CSIR\u2011OPRI will conduct feasibility studies to guide potential oil\u2011palm investors.<\/p>\n

The institute has also made recommendations to government to maximise the chances of success. <\/p>\n

It suggests prioritising nucleus\u2011estate development to cover about 90 percent of the 100,000 hectares, with the remaining 10 percent allocated to smallholder schemes, following the Indonesian and Malaysian models. <\/p>\n

It further advises that investors should be required to source all certified seed\u2011nuts from Ghana to boost the domestic economy, and that the climate\u2011suitability map already produced by CSIR\u2011OPRI should be used as a guide for investor entry.<\/p>\n

Strict regulatory compliance throughout the value chain, it added, will be essential.<\/p>\n

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MA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Isaac Danso is the Director and Principal Research Scientist at CSIR\u2011OPRI The Council for Scientific and Industrial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-293667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}