A project of the Ondo State Government for massive production of oil palm through agro-allied companies has led to thousands of peasant farmers being thrown off their farmlands.
West Local Government Area, lined a narrow path as they headed into the forest for the day's labour. The settler farmers had grown cocoa, kolanuts and oil palm in the area for generations. The mood was upbeat among the farmers as the cocoa season had just opened with the price shooting up to unprecedented levels due to the plummeting value of the naira, the Nigeria n currency.
Last month, this reporter met Muyidat Suleiman trying to salvage what she could from her palm trees after they had been felled by bulldozers. Her cocoa and kolanut trees lay mangled in the clearing that for many tears was her farm. With teary eyes, she said her livelihood had been destroyed. Gbemiga Ogunleye is the leader and spokesperson of the farmers in Abana. The father of three was making about N4 million annually from cocoa sales and had hoped to raise his earnings to N20 million this year, he said.
"The land belongs to the government, that is why we have little to say and we appear to be helpless," he added.Representatives of the affected farmers on 27 March took their grievances to the paramount ruler of Ondo kingdom, the Osemawe, Victor Kiladejo, who promised to pass their petitions to the state government.
"We confirm that our farmlands had been sold to China by the immediate past administration of Akeredolu, we saw that they have brought in bulldozers to clear some parts in which we have witnessed," the community head said. There is also a growing domestic consumption of palm oil with about 1.8 million metric tonnes consumed in Nigeria in the 2021/2022 crop year. This figure was higher than each of the 10 preceding years. Most local consumption is for industrial purposes, while a smaller percentage is used by households.
By the end of 2022, the state government had expanded the project to 80,000 hectares. In recognition of the state's commitment to the project, NPPAN conferred an award of the Distinguished Champion of Red Gold on Mr Akeredolu. The land of the farmers in Abana is part of the Red Gold project. "Each farmer was required to pay N10,000 to the state government as rent annually," he said."We continued to pay that amount until suddenly we were told the land had been sold. We were painting the N10,000 from 2018 until 2022. That was four years before the issues started.
"There was a need to open up the forest," Akin Olotu, the senior special assistant on agriculture and agribusiness to the late Mr Akeredolu, told PREMIUM TIMES. The company is also projecting to become a dominant force in cashew production through the establishment of a cutting-edge processing facility, with a capacity to process 50 metric tonnes of cashew daily.
"This Red Gold programme, if you are not aware, was initiated by government to redevelop the oil palm belt of Ondo State through the declassification of degraded Government Forest Reserve solely owned by government, and concessioning to qualified investors to develop commercial oil palm estates and to most importantly to reforest the degraded forest land to tackle climate change," he said.There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.
"A few days ago, members of the above communities mentioned by you also approached us through the King, the Akogbe of Ajue land to plead that we give them an additional six months grace period to further harvest their crops which we gracefully obliged them."
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