A slow but steady revolution is ongoing that could turn Nigeria’s decades-old palm oil story from decline to dominance. Palm oil that once placed Nigeria on the global map in the 1960s is getting a gaining attentiononce more.

A new traceability framework, known as the National Palm Oil Traceability System (NaPOTS), is being developed to transform how palm oil is produced, tracked, marketed, and exported.

With production currently at 1.4 million metric tons annually, and a national demand that exceeds 2 million metric tons, Nigeria now spends more than $600 million every year importing palm oil.

The gap between what Nigeria grows and what it consumes has become a major concern, not only economically, but also in terms of food security and sustainability.

“We’re expecting two things, one of the key implementing partners behind the initiative. “First, an effective traceability system. Second, a strong policy framework aligned with Nigeria’s Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy from 2022 to 2027”, said Kene Onukwube, Program Manager at Solidaridad Nigeria.

For Onukwube and his team at Solidaridad, this isn’t just about tracking palm oil, it’s about restoring accountability across the value chain, from the seedling planted in Enugu to the oil-filled jerrycan in a Lagos market.

For too long, Nigeria’s domestic production has struggled with inefficiencies, hidden yields, untraceable processing, and questionable quality control.

“With traceability in place, efficiency will improve in production, processing, and marketing. You’ll be able to know who produced what, where, and under what conditions. That visibility is transformational”, Onukwube explained.

Backed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Solidaridad has already piloted traceability models in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Enugu, and Kogi states.

These pilots showed that with the right tools and stakeholder engagement, traceability isn’t just possible, it’s practical.

Recognising the need for national coordination, Solidaridad partnered with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to elevate NaPOTS from a state-level experiment to a national policy. The result was the inauguration of a new inter-agency committee by the ministry, tasked with refining and institutionalising NaPOTS nationwide.

“This event is not just a launch, it is a strategic milestone in Nigeria’s journey to reclaim its rightful place as a palm oil powerhouse”, said Senator Abubakar Kyari, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security.

In the 1960s, Nigeria produced over 40 per cent of the world’s palm oil. Today, that figure has fallen to less than 2 percent. The global market has surged ahead with industrial-scale plantations, climate-smart agriculture, and export-driven policies, while Nigeria’s smallholder farmers struggle with poor yields, outdated tools, and fragmented data systems.

A major driver of this initiative is compliance, especially with the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which requires exporters to prove that their palm oil is not linked to deforestation.

“Traceability is the language of the now and the future. A product without a story of origin will be a product without a market”, the Minister said.

But beyond compliance, NaPOTS offers something deeper: a chance to rebuild confidence in Nigerian agriculture.

NaPOTS aligns with the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy’s vision for digital transformation. Through digital platforms, geospatial mapping, and farmer ID systems, the traceability platform will collect and verify data at every stage of the value chain.

The system captures key data such as GPS coordinates of farms, producer identities, palm variety and tree age, harvest volumes and timings, processing and transportation details, environmental and ethical compliance and export destinations and transaction history.

With this unified data architecture, policymakers can make informed decisions, investors gain visibility into supply chains, and consumers receive ethical assurance.

Beyond data, NaPOTS holds enormous potential to spark green growth and climate-smart agriculture. By identifying yield gaps and enabling precision extension services, the system will support best management practices (BMPs) and promote eco-friendly inputs.

Smallholder farmers who produce over 80 percent of Nigeria’s palm oil, will finally gain access to tools and training to improve both their productivity and incomes.

For global investors, a transparent Nigerian palm oil sector is a far more attractive prospect. “We’re seeing growing interest in sustainability-compliant commodities. NaPOTS opens new investment pipelines by offering transparent land-use and production records”, Onukwube said.

Moreover, the export landscape will shift. With NaPOTS in place, Nigerian palm oil will be better positioned to meet the requirements of high-value markets like the EU, UK, and Asia. This directly supports Nigeria’s non-oil export ambitions and improves foreign exchange earnings.

But achieving all this will require synchronized efforts. The newly inaugurated Inter-Agency Committee includes representatives from government ministries, NGOs, private sector processors, exporters, and research institutions. Each has a unique role, whether in data collection, regulation, capacity building, or market access.

Research institutions like the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) will also benefit. With access to harmonised, real-time data, they can accelerate breeding programmes, climate adaptation research, and socio-economic impact studies.

Like any major reform, NaPOTS faces challenges, data integrity, infrastructure gaps, low digital literacy among farmers, and stakeholder coordination. However, the policy document outlines a detailed roadmap supported by key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress.

Some of these KPIs include number of farmers and processors registered on the NaPOTS platform, percentage of palm oil volumes traced end-to-end, reduction in palm oil imports, increase in sustainability-certified exports and investment volume in traceable palm oil projects.

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The system also sets clear goals for environmental monitoring and land use optimisation to support Nigeria’s broader forest and climate commitments under the Forest, Agriculture, and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue.

As Nigeria embarks on this new journey, the stakes are high, but so are the opportunities. If implemented effectively, NaPOTS could serve as a model for traceability in other agricultural sectors, from cocoa to cashew. It also positions Nigeria to lead the conversation on ethical agriculture in Africa.

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