Growth and Yield Parameters of Introduced Oil Palm Crop in Uganda

Abstract

Oil palm is commercially grown on Bugala Island within Lake Victoria. But with increasing demand for vegetable oils in Uganda more areas for oil palm production are required. A study was conducted to identify new areas suitable for oil palm production. The experiment was super-imposed on 45 × 45 m plots in 3-year old oil palm plantations in Bugiri, Buvuma, Kibaale and Masaka. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. From 2011 to 2013 results indicated significant (P < 0.05) mean increments from 98.9 to 141 cm in height, 166 to 377 cm in stem girth, 24.3 to 30.1 in number of open leaves and 40.3 to 81.2 in number of flowered palm trees. On the monthly basis the highest fresh fruit bunch (FFB) number and yield were realized in May and October, respectively which corresponded with the peak rain months. Furthermore, significant (P < 0.05) increments of 40.9% in number of FFB, 55.4% in bunch weight and 16.9% in yield were observed from 2014 to 2016. Across sites, Kibaale had the highest (601.5 FFB ha-1) number of FFB while Masaka registered the lowest number (452.2 FFB ha-1). Oil palm yield in Kibaale and Buvuma was twice higher than in Masaka. But, yield in Bugiri was not significantly different from that of Buvuma and Kibaale but significantly (P < 0.05) higher than in Masaka. The findings on growth and yield of introduced oil palm crop revealed that Kibale, Buvuma and Bugiri are potential areas for oil palm production in Uganda.

Agronomic Suitability for Oil Palm Growing in Uganda

“…This initiative was a government intervention (import substitution), as a remedy to reduce on foreign exchange spent on importing crude palm oil into Uganda (NOPP, 2020). Currently, 11,484 ha of oil palm cultivated on Bugala island yields about 40,000 metric tonnes of crude palm oil annually (Ddamulira et al, 2020). This is still far below the current country demand of 410,000 metric tonnes of crude palm oil.…”

“…and places within a 30-kilometer radius of Lake Victoria (Bugiri, Mayuge, Masaka, and Mukono) are also prospective areas with potential for oil palm cultivation due to the lake's effect on their climatic conditions. However, the potential for such probable oil palm growing sites had yet to be established (Ddamulira et al, 2020). Furthermore, distant off-shore places like Kibaale, whose climate is similarly impacted by Lake Albert, were recommended as potential oil palm-producing areas; however, no research had been conducted to validate their agronomic appropriateness.…”

“…However, a number of agronomic and climatic factors affect successful oil palm cultivation (Fleiss et al, 2017;Masika et al, 2020), and these variables vary depending on regions (Carr, 2011;Henson & Harun, 2005). The main aim of this study was to determine the effect of agronomic and climatic factors on oil palm yield performance in Bugiri, Mayuge, Buvuma, Masaka, Mukono, and Kibaale so that expansion decisions could be made by policy makers.…”

Challenges and Opportunities of Oil Palm Production in Uganda

“…Nigeria has the highest area under natural oil palm stands/traditional plantations with 2,500,000 hectares followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 1,000,000, Guinea with 2,000,000 hectares, and Togo with 600,000 hectares [3,10]. In Uganda, one of the countries without traditional oil palm stands, commercial oil palm cultivation was introduced in 1998 through a Vegetable Oil Development Project spearheaded by the government in an innovative public-private-producer-partnership (4P) involving an integrated processor/nucleus estate/smallholder model in the district of Kalangala [9,11]. Currently, oil palm production in Kalangala exceeds 11,000 hectares and the production has been expanded to the districts of Buvuma and Mayuge.…”

“…Currently, oil palm production in Kalangala exceeds 11,000 hectares and the production has been expanded to the districts of Buvuma and Mayuge. Adaptability studies have revealed that production is suitable in Masaka, Kibaale, Bugiri, and Kagadi [11,12]. In Kalangala, over 6500 hectares belong to the private sector partner, Oil Palm Uganda Limited (OPUL) while over 5000 hectares belong to medium and small-scale farmers.…”