Palm Oil in Sierra Leone

Palm oil is derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree, and the oil the fruits create makes palm trees one of the most productive crops a farmer can plant. One of the most interesting current uses of palm oil is as a biofuel. Biofuels are a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, the supply of which is limited and increasingly expensive to find, drill and process. Though crude oil prices have proven they can go up and down, the cost per barrel tends to be on an upward trend, making palm oil a very cost-effective, and sustainable, replacement. One hectare, which is approximately two and a half acres, of oil palm trees can create as much as 6,000 liters of crude oil. By way of comparison, similar biofuel crops do not yield such results. A hectare of soybeans can create 446 liters of crude fuel, while a hectare of corn produces only 172 liters. With the cost of a barrel of palm oil now competitive with the price of traditional crude oil, palm oil is not just a productive crop – it is a profitable one, as well.

Palm oil has many other uses than simply biofuel. It can be used as a food ingredient, as an industrial lubricant, and is used in cosmetic production. Palm oil, which has a reddish appearance due to the levels of beta-carotene that naturally occur in the oil, has a high oxidative level, which makes it a very stable oil, less likely to oxidize and grow rancid, which is extremely important when the oil is used in cosmetics and as a food ingredient. When palm oil is refined and milled, the fatty acids created in this process can be used as an important component for soaps and household cleaners.

Palm is a tree that is native to the wetlands in Western Africa and was produced and used long before scientists began to look at the viability of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels. The people of Sierra Leone, a West African country with miles of wetlands where oil palm trees flourish, have long used palm oil in their diet, and it is a staple in many native recipes. The beta-carotene levels in palm oil ensure plenty of Vitamin A consumption, which is necessary for eye and bone health, as well as for a strong immune system. Sierra Leone’s economy is agriculturally based, and palm kernels, the part of oil palm that produces oil, and palm oil itself are among Sierra Leone’s main cash crops and the country’s top exports.

Increasing palm tree agriculture in Sierra Leone, as well as creating the industry to extract and refine palm oil from the oil palm fruit, has helped stabilize the economy. Small farmers are able to participate in and realize great profits from palm oil production. Approximately two-thirds of the population in Sierra Leone earns a living through subsistence agriculture. As markets for palm oil increase in biofuels and other commercial products, more and smaller farmers will realize greater profits by growing oil palm trees and contributing to the palm oil market.
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