LAGOS - The Federal Government has assured that it will continue to enforce the ban on the importation of edible oil to encourage local production.
Mr Charles Ugwuh, Minister of Commerce and Industry, told newsmen in Lagos that the reassurance became necessary to debunk rumours that government would soon lift the ban.
He said that the rumours and speculations that government would soon lift the ban should be disregarded.
According to him, some companies have approached the ministry to lift the ban because of the short fall in the demand and adulteration of locally produced edible oil.
He said that local production was about 1.2 million tonnes while the demand was about 3 million tonnes, but said that the aggressive cultivation in oil palm plantations across the country would soon address the short fall.
Ugwuh said that he was optimistic that the stakeholders had been sensitised to cultivate plantations of oil palm in large scale to compliment oil palm from the wild.
He said that the palm trees and nuts had economic advantages and increase in their production would boost employment generation and wealth creation.
The minister advised that the hybrid date palms should be cultivated while old palm trees that have gone sterile should be felled.
He said that the high prices of oil palm products in the international market were incentives to the farmers.
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