Overview 

The Okomu Forest Reserve in Edo state covers an area of 123,902 hectares, including the protected Okomu National Park. Home to endangered species, such as the white-throated monkey and forest elephants, the landscape is a key producer of palm oil, cocoa, cassava rubber and pineapple. 

Edo state is Nigeria’s leading producer of oil palm, which is sold to companies including SNL, Nestle, PZ-Wilmar and Sudit. Oil palm plantations, predominantly operated by the Okomu Oil Palm company, represent 16% (9,300 hectares) of land use in the reserve. Agriculture is the major economic activity of communities in the reserve, with cocoa production having the highest net value. 

The growth of cocoa and oil palm plantations, along with logging and poaching, have led to significant deforestation. There is now just 42% forest cover left in the reserve.  

NISCOPS - Creating positive impact for people, planet and progress 

The National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPs) - a partnership between IDH and Solidaridad - brings together key stakeholders to sustainably manage the landscape.  The forest reserve demarcates the boundary for the NISCOPS landscape. The program supports smallholders to implement climate-smart agriculture - improving livelihoods, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, and boosting climate change resilience.   

Climate Change and deforestation  

The palm oil sector remains a significant contributor to climate change in Nigeria. Climate change threatens smallholder incomes with extreme weather events, erratic rainfall patterns and rising temperatures affecting yields, oil quality and crude palm oil prices.  However, the Okomu reserve sequesters a significant amount of carbon, contributing to global climate change mitigation.  

Agricultural expansion has been the primary driver of deforestation in the landscape. Demarcation of communities/settlements in the reserve, and the national park, is underway to help prevent further deforestation. 

Sustainable land management 

In 2024, the Okomu Management Plan was launched. Whilst NISCOPS will focus predominantly on palm oil produced, the solutions based, landscape approach aims to impact the production of more than one agricultural commodity.  

The project will bring about 16,500 hectares of land under sustainable land management practices and support and equip forest guards to protect the reserve. 

Improving livelihoods 

The Okomu Outgrower scheme, led by the Okomu Oil Palm company, trains smallholder farmers in modern and oil palm best practices. It also provides access to farm services and finance. Farmers who adopted climate-smart practices, such as water conservation and organic fertilization, have seen a steady increase of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) from 22700 MT in 2021 to around 30000 MT in 2024.  

The business plans to integrate at least 5000 oil palm smallholder farmers into the company supply chain and support them to become RSPO certified. In addition, the program aims to diversify incomes by increasing farm income outside of oil palm production by 10%. 

Empowering women and youth 

To date the Okomu Outgrower Scheme has supported 2840 women and young people in palm oil retailing and service provision. Of the 7,500 smallholder farmers the program will reach, 15% are expected to be women and 10% will be young people. The scheme also supports self-help groups, especially women-focused, agribusiness clusters, to become registered farmer cooperatives.  

A beekeeping enterprise has been established to provide a guaranteed market for trained and potential honeybee farmers. Initial findings have shown a 60% colony establishment rate in a landscape new to honeybees and an average 10,000 Naira worth of honey per farmer. The project has attracted potential corporate investment, helping to ensure scalable income sources, especially for women and youth.

Progress reporting on landscape targets 

All countries in the NISCOPS program report against three global impact areas: Improved Land Use, Better Incomes and Inclusive Markets. 

Improved Land Use