thirty five million euros will loan to zambia by several development banks in europe including the german investment and development corporation d e g a subsidiary of the k f w development bank zambia if used some of the money to found a subsidiary example. is their project which do is in. palm trees to produce is quick and. started in late two thousand and eight. but we had our first necessity in december two thousand and eight. some of the plants that we tried to plant in two thousand and nine. the plantation started off with major problems a consultant had recommended the wrong type of palm tree then it became clear that the soil was too moist for oil palms. the company had the water table lowered by
part of the payment. but for see my match here it s been a disaster for a minute do so depend on this plantation on this land where over fifty in this village. he s got the money that he gave his current living conditions his arms are getting difficult for. some environmental activists call what happened here a land grab. one hundred twenty kilometers away farmers so he says say has not least his land he grows palm fruit himself along with other crops the oil palms bear fruit for twenty five years but since they can only be harvested three or four years after planting it s a long term investment. and i know it s gimmicky i decided to go into oil production i am lazy but this will be my pension and we can harvest it until i die
at that so much. his family is large and they can harvest the fruit all year round and the parts of the plants that can t be used are made into natural fertilizer. these oil palms are organically grown out of necessity. that the backyard it gladly i don t use chemicals and besides i don t even have money to buy any i mean much so we rely purely on our own traditional methods. today s stories sesay has a visitor it s mohamed come are a from the dutch palm oil company natural habitats in the group produces its own organic palm oil fruits but also buys from the local farmers. how long does it take you to grow plant to show and then start the process and so we decided to go straight to from most who already have been to show and in our system develop
the asking nice or to meet. the company s oil mill is close by oil palms are high yield given four times as much oil as some flowers perhaps or. that makes it cheap and widely consumed almost every other product in supermarkets from cookies to face creams contains palm oil most of the royal press here is exported but the amount is just a fraction of that produced by large companies can the organic palm oil compete can definitely people them even when we have a different form of. we are going to be very sure not be an organic if you are. and the markets. one thousand four hundred farmers like stormy says say are part of natural habitats network of certified organic growers their number is set to rise as world demand for palm oil continues to climb.
a tad like that tell you pump oil production in general is bad for the environment lads west of tropical forests often cleared to make way for vast monoculture plantations and people are driven from their land by big oil companies but in sierra leone we came across a project that is producing palm oil in a way that benefits both local people and the environment. to get to the villages around san milan you have to pass a checkpoint this land belongs to the sox in agricultural company here where local people used to farm sucks in his growing oil palms it s a massive monoculture that requires large amounts of chemicals. in the middle of it lives farmers see my mom. he says family members and local chiefs forced him to lease his fields to suck in for decades hoping to profit from the deal by receiving