{"id":103541,"date":"2025-11-16T15:23:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103541"},"modified":"2025-11-16T15:23:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:23:58","slug":"csir-opri-applauds-governments-100000-hectare-oil-palm-drive-in-2026-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103541","title":{"rendered":"CSIR-OPRI applauds government\u2019s 100,000-hectare oil-palm drive in 2026 budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 20 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research \u2013 Oil Palm Research Institute (CSIR-OPRI) has endorsed the government\u2019s plan to develop 100,000 hectares of oil-palm plantations under the 2026 budget adjustments.<\/p>\n

At a media briefing, Dr Isaac Danso, Director and Principal Research Scientist at CSIR-OPRI, outlined the institute\u2019s rationale for supporting the initiative, the challenges confronting the sector, and how CSIR-OPRI intends to help deliver the project.<\/p>\n

Dr Danso said the institute\u2019s support is anchored on four strategic objectives: reducing Ghana\u2019s reliance on cocoa, gold and timber exports; diversifying national revenue; creating new growth pillars; and integrating rural communities into the broader economy. \u201cThese goals align directly with the country\u2019s development agenda,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Sector challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

CSIR-OPRI highlighted six major obstacles that could hinder the programme:<\/p>\n

Use of uncertified planting material, which significantly reduces yields.<\/p>\n

Poor agronomic practices among growers.<\/p>\n

Limited processing capacity and low adoption of technology.<\/p>\n

Lack of accessible credit for farmers and investors.<\/p>\n

Inadequate funding and logistics for CSIR-OPRI\u2019s research work.<\/p>\n

Low value-addition, with most producers exporting crude palm oil (CPO) without further processing.<\/p>\n

CSIR-OPRI\u2019s contribution<\/strong><\/p>\n

The institute outlined a concrete plan to support the 100,000-hectare target:<\/p>\n

Supply of improved high-yielding hybrid material: CSIR-OPRI can produce about one million hybrid seedlings per year, each with a yield potential of 25 tonnes per hectare annually and an early-maturing period of 2.5 years. Its subsidiary, Ghana Sumatra Ltd., can produce approximately 12 million pre-germinated seed nuts annually. The project requires 15 million planting materials, all of which can be sourced locally from CSIR-OPRI at Kusi in the Eastern Region.<\/p>\n

Technical backstopping: <\/strong>The institute will supervise and provide technical support to accredited industrial nursery operators.<\/p>\n

Extension services:<\/strong> CSIR-OPRI will support site selection, farmer training, association formation, and delivery of agronomic advisory services and inputs.<\/p>\n

Capacity building: <\/strong>Training programmes will develop the manpower needed for production and value addition, including capacity building for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) staff on technology uptake.<\/p>\n

Feasibility studies: The institute will undertake studies to guide prospective investors.<\/p>\n

Recommendations to the government<\/strong><\/p>\n

To maximise success, CSIR-OPRI recommended:<\/p>\n

Prioritising nucleus-estate development for about 90% of the land, with the remaining 10% for smallholder schemes, following Indonesian and Malaysian models.<\/p>\n

Requiring investors to source all certified seed-nuts locally to boost the domestic economy.<\/p>\n

Using the CSIR-OPRI climate-suitability map to guide investor entry.<\/p>\n

Enforcing strict regulatory compliance along the value chain.<\/p>\n

Officials say these measures could create thousands of jobs, raise rural incomes, and boost value addition beyond raw commodity exports. With government financing, CSIR-OPRI\u2019s technical support, and a clear implementation roadmap, the 100,000-hectare oil-palm target appears within reach.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"CSIR-OPRIThe Council for Scientific and Industrial Research \u2013 Oil Palm Research Institute (CSIR-OPRI) has endorsed the government\u2019s plan to develop 100,000 hectares of oil-palm plantations under the 2026 budget adjustments. At a media briefing, Dr Isaac Danso, Director and Principal Research Scientist at CSIR-OPRI, outlined the institute\u2019s rationale for supporting the initiative, the challenges confronting [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1006,12593,117,6406,12594,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agribusiness","category-csir","category-news","category-oil-palm","category-oil-palm-research-institute","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}