Smallholder yields
Small plantations often reach much lower yields than industrial estates. Planting material and upkeep make the difference.
Oil palm
Smallholders often reach much lower yields than industrial estates. Sankora helps cooperatives and mills produce more on existing land, succeed with replanting and prove the origin of every bunch.
Oil palm
A food and industrial crop
Oil palm provides a staple cooking oil in Africa and a raw material for industry. Nigeria is Africa's largest producer, ahead of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon.
In Côte d'Ivoire, crude palm oil output is around 500,000 tonnes a year. It comes from industrial estates and from many smallholders who supply the mills.
The Ivorian sector is organised by an inter-professional body, AIPH, which brings together growers, processors, research and a replanting fund. It has worked on traceability for several years.
2ndpalm oil producer in Africa: Côte d'IvoireSource: Cahiers Agricultures, oil palm in Cameroon (2026)
≈ 500,000 tof crude palm oil produced in Côte d'IvoireSource: Économie ivoirienne, industrial and export agriculture
Where it is grown in Africa
Oil palm countries in Africa
African production is concentrated in the humid forest belt, from the Gulf of Guinea to the Congo Basin.
NigeriaAfrica's largest producer, with strong domestic demand.
Côte d'IvoireAfrica's second producer, industrial and smallholder plantations.
GhanaAfrica's third producer.
CameroonAfrica's fourth producer, the largest in Central Africa.
LiberiaIndustrial concessions and smallholder palm groves.
The value chain's challenges
What limits smallholder palm groves
Deforestation risk
Studies in Cameroon show that smallholder expansion often happens at the expense of secondary forest. Every new plot must be checked.
Bunch freshness
Oil quality depends on how fresh the bunches are: a bunch that waits several days before reaching the mill loses quality. Village collection is often the weak link.
Ageing palm groves
Part of the plantations is reaching the end of its cycle. Replanting will determine future output, but leaves growers without income for several years.
Small-scale processing
Much of the red palm oil consumed locally is extracted by hand, often by women. Losses are high and quality is uneven.
What markets require
Ripe bunches delivered fresh to the mill, production without deforestation or land conflict, certifications such as RSPO and, for Europe, the EUDR. West African markets mostly want steady volumes at a competitive price.
How Sankora helps you
How Sankora can help improve the oil palm value chain
Technology does not solve everything. Here is what Sankora can practically put in place in this value chain, with simple, reliable tools, to know the field better, track actions and prove results.
Trace every bunch delivery
Each delivery to the mill is linked to the grower and the plantation, checked and analysed by satellite: the oil produced can be covered by an EUDR statement.
Farmer and plot register Purchasing and lot traceability EUDR compliance Due diligence file
Spot low-yield plantations
Tonnage delivered per plantation, compared with its area, highlights low yields. Mills and cooperatives target advice and inputs where they matter.
Organise replanting
Ageing plantations are identified in the register, then the distribution and planting of selected seedlings are tracked, plot by plot.