Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has unveiled plans for the launch of Phase 2 of Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP) with an additional 47,000 hectares of land to be allocated to new and prospective oil palm investors.
ESOPP, launched in 2019, is an initiative of the Obaseki-led administration to de-risk the oil palm value chain by providing contiguous land to investors for sustainable production aimed at creating employment, improving the livelihood of members of the project communities, and regenerating the state’s forest belt. With over 70,000 hectares of land currently under cultivation, its first phase has attracted upwards of $500 million in investment, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa.
While speaking during a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Joseph ‘JD’ D’cruz, with other investors in oil palm in the state, at the Government House, Benin City, Obaseki said that the ESOPP programme, among other things, was aimed at addressing deforestation in the state.
He said: “We are starting ESOPP 2 and will be launching that next month. We are doing 47,000 hectares of land in the first instance. We will be using the learning from ESOPP 1 for ESOPP 2. I believe prospective investors for ESOPP 2 are here.”