other NGOs working in conservation and agricultural development. It was clear during the visit that these NGOs have a great deal to contribute to the promotion of sustainable
palm oil SPO in Liberia. Collaboration between FFI and CI on SPO appears promising, and will be discussed in Sections 6 and 7 of this report.
Munro, who has served as Director of Winrock International’s USAID-funded Liberia Oil Palm Revitalization Project, was a valuable source of information about the Liberian
oil palm sector. He had organized the first Liberia Oil Palm Workshop and Trade Fair in Monrovia in January 2010 Annex B, which has opened by the Vice President of Liberia
and the Minister of Agriculture. During my visit, he made the decision to accept a position in Ethiopia, so hopefully his successor at Winrock will continue to pursue the
initiatives he has started.
The advisor also received very valuable inputs from principals of two international and local private sector companies—Peter Bayliss, Operational Manager of the United
Kingdom-based company Equatorial Palm Oil Ltd also known as Equatorial Bio Fuels and Haji V. Sherman of the Liberian entity Haj Group of Companies. Bayliss, who was
on his way to the UK, has extensive experience with two of the companies that are considered among the leaders within the RSPO—New Britain Palm Oil, Ltd. NBPOL in
Papua New Guinea and P.T. London Sumatra in Indonesia. His company has purchased 34,000 hectares of unmanaged plantations in Sinoe and Grand Bassa Counties, and is
pursuing eventual rehabilitation of up to 60,000 hectares in several locations. Equatorial Palm Oil is an active members of the RSPO and Bayliss indicated that they are eager to
cooperate with FFI in the field.
Sherman is the scion of one of Liberia’s pioneering oil palm families. In the 1980s, his uncle Charles Sherman set up a reportedly once-thriving 10,000 acre oil palm plantation
and modern oil extraction mill in Grand Cape Mount County under the aegis of the now- defunct West African Agricultural Corporation WAAC. The plantation is mostly
occupied by sharecroppers and the steel structure is all that remains of the mill Annex D. Sherman is trying to find a joint venture partner who will invest in revitalizing the
plantation and rebuilding the mill, but has not found partners he considers suitable.
3. Current Status of the Liberian Palm Oil Industry
According to the IFC Annex B, the Government of Liberia embarked on a major oil palm production development program in the 1970s by establishing about 60,000
hectares of government and private oil palm plantations. This consisted of state-owned industrial plantations in Grand Gedeh, Maryland, and Sinoe Counties, and small to
medium scale private plantations in the counties of Bong, Lofa, and Nimba. The plantations used hybrid Tenera variety seeds imported from Ghana and Ivory Coast. The
expected potential production from these plantings was an FFB potential production of around 750,000- 900,000 metric tons, equivalent to 135,000-180,000 metric tons of CPO.
However, this was never realized due to the onset of civil war in the late 1980s. Industrial estates almost entirely shut down or were abandoned during the conflict era of
1989-2003. Industrial post-harvest facilities were all closed and largely destroyed during the height of the conflict era. Essentially, the Liberian oil palm sector has not seen any
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improvements or recovery since then. Almost all oil palm production in Liberia now consists of small-scale community-based
farms widely dispersed throughout the country. Figure 1 lists the approximate number of households producing palm oil per district. This data was collected during a 2008
Government of Liberia LISGIS statistical survey, which concludes that oil palm production provides direct employment income impacts to approximately 37,000
families or to an estimated 250,000 individuals. About 75 of these farmers are from Lofa, Nimba, and Bong Counties where earlier promotional efforts occurred. The same
survey concluded that small household scale producers largely harvest aging trees averaging 30-35 years old, well beyond their productive potential.
Many of the smallholders and large estates have not had the financial or labor resources to rehabilitate their plantations. Most farmers practice minimum fertilization,
maintenance, or replanting of old stock. Thus, yields are very low, below three tons of fresh fruit bunches FFBs per hectare, or less than 20 of Indonesian averages. Annex
D depicts the condition of these essentially degraded plantations and the very basic processing techniques and equipment used to extract the palm oil from the fruit. The
FFBs are left for several days so that the small fruits can be easily stripped from the bunch. Thereafter, the fruit is placed in an oil drum and steamed with firewood or
agriwaste as fuel feedstocks. We even witnessed use of palm kernels as fuels in the field, as there are no kernel mills available in the country. The softened fruit turns into a pulp
which is placed in a clay lined pan and the oil is expelled by feet in the way that grapes are traditionally crushed for winemaking in Europe.
According to data of uncertain reliability, Liberia’s total annual output of raw material in 2008 was about 183,000 tons of fresh fruit bunches FFB, or about 40,000 tons crude
palm oil CPO. This volume of production would be valued at around US 30 million at current world prices. Domestic consumption is estimated at between 16.6 and 17.5
million gallons 62,800-66,200 metric tons. In 2009, the palm oil production level increased to 12.5 million gallons 47,300 metric tons. Given the deficit in supply and
demand, Liberia imported an estimated between 14,000 to 17,000 metric tons of palm oil or roughly 3.7-4.5 million gallons with an economic value of US10.5 – 12.8 million.
These figures are difficult to verify as a fair amount of undocumented cross-border commerce occurs with neighboring countries. Until now, there are no exports of
internationally-recognized food-grade Crude Palm Oil CPO or Palm Kernel Oil PKO.
Figure 2 presents a flow chart of Liberia’s current and potential oil palm value chain, courtesy of Winrock’s Tate Munro. Essentially, the industry is mostly limited to
smallholder plantations and wildstands using traditional processing methods with a capacity of 0.2-0.3 FFBs per hour. This is covered by the section with yellow boxes to
the right of the value chain. Annex D shows a portable mechanical press capable of processing 250 kg per hour that is currently being promoted for small-scale palm oil
processing in various locations in rural Liberia by Winrock International through the USAID-funded Liberia Oil Palm Revitalization Project. The project has commercialized
over 80 of these mills which cost about US750. Until the major investments described in the next section occur, the Liberian palm oil value chain will largely remain as it is.
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Figure 1: Distribution of Oil Palm Production by District in Liberia
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Figure 2: Liberia’s Current and Potential Oil Palm Value Chain Tate Munro, Winrock
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4. Opportunities and Threats Posed by the Rapid Expansion of Liberia’s Oil Palm Sector
