Prior to the establishment of the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, some research on the husbandry of the crop had been undertaken by the then Colonial Department of Agriculture in Nigeria.

Palm oil was among the first commodities of international trade, after the slave trade, between Nigeria and Europe. The world trade in palm oil at the turn of the 20th century and up to the Second World War, was dominated by countries of British West Africa (largely Nigeria), the Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of Congo), and the Far-East Asia notably the Netherlands East Indies, (Sumatra and Java) now Indonesia.

Thus in 1939, a large area of land was acquired for the central research station. By 1950, it was realized that the work of the research station should be placed on a West African basis under the West African Research Organization (WARO). Upon independence of the member countries in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, and the consequent dissolution of WARO, the Nigerian component was renamed the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) by the Research Institute’s Act No. 33 of 1964. By the same development, the Institute’s mandate was expanded to include coconut, date palm, Raphia and other palms of economic importance.

NIFOR has however, since 1992 came under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. The thrust of work at NIFOR today, as in the past, derives from national goals as currently defined by the national policy on agriculture and the needs of farmers.

The formal mandate of the institute is to conduct research into the production and products of oil palm and other palms of economic importance and transfer its research findings to farmers. The emphases of the research mandate are as follows:

  • fundamental study of the mandate crops;
  • the improvement of genetic potentials of the specified crops, and production of their seeds for distribution to farmers;
  • improvement of agronomic and husbandry practices including planting, cultivation, harvesting and soil fertility management techniques, farming systems in relation to cultivation methods;
  • the ecology of pests and diseases of the mandate crops and development of their control measures;
  • the mechanization and improvement of the methods of cultivation, harvesting, processing, preservation & storage of palm products;
  • the improvement of the utilization of by-products;
  • design and fabrication of simple implements and equipment for palm processing;
  • integration of the cultivation methods of the mandate crops into farming systems in different ecological zones and its socio-economic effects on the rural population; and
  • any other matter relating to production, processing and utilization of palm products.

Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research
Ekiadolor
P.M.B. 1030,
Benin City,
Nigeria
Email:[email protected]