Sustainability of African Oil Palm Agriculture in a Changing Climatic Environment

Non-governmental organizations often claim that those countries growing oil palm are responsible for deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Nevertheless, demand for palm oil has kept on growing in Africa and worldwide due to the ever-growing populations and to the high demand for palm oil numerous food and non-food uses. In 2018, African demands for oils and fats are estimated at 30.64 million tonnes. Assuming that 50% of the continent’s demands were to be satisfied with palm oil, mature oil palm areas would have to be 7.547 million hectares at the current palm oil yield of 2.03 t/ha. Growing demand for palm oil will result in expansion of oil palm plantation in new forest areas. In Africa, further challenges facing oil palm agriculture are poor yields of oil palm resulting from (i) limited technical knowhow on the establishment and management of plantations, (ii) a marked dry season of 2-5 months per year, and (iii) unambitious oil palm development programmes. Fortunately, oil palm ranked first in oil production per unit area with a high theoretical oil yield potential (18 t/ha). High-yield oil palm agriculture could be harnessed to meet the growing demand for food without destroying more natural habitat. In 2016, 609 000 ha would have been enough for the 9 recorded African oil palm-growing countries to produce their 2.434 million tonnes of palm oil production at 4 t/ha against 1.198 million hectares effectively harvested with an average yield of 2.031 t/ha. High-yield on-farm activities are recommended, from the site selection to the harvest of ripe fresh fruit bunch to (i) ensure economic and environmental sustainability of oil palm fields, (ii) consolidate the African oil palm sector, and (iii) prepare its shift to an African oil palm industry, an ambitious vision on which sustainability of the palm oil business depends.