Hybrid Oil Palm
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| | | [Newsroom] | | News stories | | Focus on the issues | | FAO field projects | | FAO in action | | Audio online | | Video service | | Online photos | | Fact sheets | | Media contacts | | Archives | | | Hybrid oil palms bear fruit in western Kenya | FAO project improves incomes and diets, and may reduce imports of food oil | 24 November 2003, Rome — A cold-tolerant, high-yielding oil palm being promoted by FAO in western Kenya could be a boon to small-scale farmers and industrial producers alike, increasing incomes improving diets, reducing imports of food oil and providing much-needed crop diversification for local sugar growers.Until the FAO project, which began in 1993, the only oil palm variety that grew in cooler African climates was thedura type, which produces fruit with a low volume of pulp and therefore low yields of edible oil.FAO agronomists first noted the dura variety 's cold tolerance in the highlands of Tanzania and Cameroon, and seeing its potential, transferred the material to Costa Rica, where it was crossed with precocious high-yielding tenera varieties. The resultant hybrids were returned to several East African countries, including Kenya, for field trials.The results were encouraging. After four years the Kenyan trees had fruited successfully, even under poor husbandry. Hybrid seedlings are now being grown in community nurseries in western Kenya and by the Mumias Sugar Company, the region 's largest sugar producer.The climate in western Kenya is well-suited to oil palm cultivation when using cold-tolerant hybrids and may even be better than that of Malaysia, the world 's largest producer of palm oil, according to Peter Griffee, FAO Senior Officer for Industrial Crops and one of the key technical officers for the project. "It usually rains in the
| | | [Newsroom] | | News stories | | Focus on the issues | | FAO field projects | | FAO in action | | Audio online | | Video service | | Online photos | | Fact sheets | | Media contacts | | Archives | | | Hybrid oil palms bear fruit in western Kenya | FAO project improves incomes and diets, and may reduce imports of food oil | 24 November 2003, Rome — A cold-tolerant, high-yielding oil palm being promoted by FAO in western Kenya could be a boon to small-scale farmers and industrial producers alike, increasing incomes improving diets, reducing imports of food oil and providing much-needed crop diversification for local sugar growers.Until the FAO project, which began in 1993, the only oil palm variety that grew in cooler African climates was thedura type, which produces fruit with a low volume of pulp and therefore low yields of edible oil.FAO agronomists first noted the dura variety 's cold tolerance in the highlands of Tanzania and Cameroon, and seeing its potential, transferred the material to Costa Rica, where it was crossed with precocious high-yielding tenera varieties. The resultant hybrids were returned to several East African countries, including Kenya, for field trials.The results were encouraging. After four years the Kenyan trees had fruited successfully, even under poor husbandry. Hybrid seedlings are now being grown in community nurseries in western Kenya and by the Mumias Sugar Company, the region 's largest sugar producer.The climate in western Kenya is well-suited to oil palm cultivation when using cold-tolerant hybrids and may even be better than that of Malaysia, the world 's largest producer of palm oil, according to Peter Griffee, FAO Senior Officer for Industrial Crops and one of the key technical officers for the project. "It usually rains in the
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