Oil Palm

Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palm. Palm oil and palm kernel oil-based ingredients are found in approximately 50% of products on supermarket shelves, in both food and non-food items, including consumer retail food and snacks, personal care and cosmetics (mainly palm kernel oil), biofuel and energy, animal feed (palm kernel cake), pharmaceutical and the like.

Palm oil in Nigeria is used mainly for cooking and frying as it is rich in carotenes (vitamin A precursors) tocopherols and antioxidants, hence the interest in its use in Africa as a natural source of vitamin A. Oil palm plantations or estates cover around 118 264 ha but make up only 5% of the total crude palm oil production in Nigeria, the majority of which is produced by Jonah Stephen Woods.