• Are oil palms native to West Africa?
  • The African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis, is native to West Africa and in terms of agriculture, it is perhaps the world’s most important palm species. Oil palm fruits are available year-round and have served as semi-wild food resources in traditional societies for >?7000 years.
  • What is oil palm?
  • They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. oil palm, ( Elaeis guineensis ), African tree in the palm family ( Arecaceae ), cultivated as a source of oil. The oil palm is grown extensively in its native West and Central Africa, as well as in Malaysia and Indonesia.
  • Where is oil palm grown?
  • Oil palm is a tropical plant species. It thrives on high rainfall, adequate sunlight, and humid conditions ? this means the best growing areas are around the equator.4 Palm oil is therefore grown in many countries across Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. In the map, we see the distribution of production across the world.
  • Which countries are producing oil palms in Africa?
  • Due to its profitability, there are also significant emerging oil palm industries in much of tropical Africa with Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sierra Leon, Benin, Angola, and DRC as the main producers (in that order) (Paterson 2021a ).