Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno doing the planting.
By Ubon Marcus
On Thursday, May 28, 2026, Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, officially launched the Akwa Ibom State Tree Crop Revolution Initiative, a strategic agricultural intervention designed to ensure food availability, stimulate rural economic growth, and advance the agricultural objectives of the ARISE Agenda. The Tree Crop Revolution Initiative reflects a broader vision of transforming agriculture into a sustainable economic driver, capable of improving livelihoods and ensuring long-term food security in Akwa Ibom State.
Last year Gov. Eno inaugurated the Akwa Ibom State Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, with the mandate of developing progressive agricultural policies capable of eliminating hunger and malnutrition through increased food and industrial commodity production. The committee, chaired by renowned agricultural expert, Prof. Okon Ansa, recommended the accelerated cultivation of oil palm and other tree crops as a pathway to reposition Akwa Ibom among Nigeria’s leading oil palm-producing states and the heart of the programme is the revival of agricultural productivity through grassroots participation.
Speaking at the flag-off ceremony which took place at the Akwa Ibom Agricultural Development Project’s office (AKADEP), Governor Eno described oil palm as “a symbol of wealth, heritage, enterprise, and community life,” noting that Akwa Ibom was historically renowned for oil palm production long before the dominance of crude oil in the Nigerian economy.
According to him, “What we are doing now is simply returning to our generational heritage,” recalling how many families in the state built prosperity and trained their children through proceeds from oil palm plantations.
Tree crops, particularly oil palm, play a significant role in food systems and agro-industrial development. Oil palm products are widely consumed in homes and industries, serving as raw materials for cooking oil, food processing, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing.
In view of Akwa Ibom’s natural comparative advantage within the tropical rainforest belt where oil palm originates, the state government is leveraging the crop to drive industrialisation and economic expansion.
Unlike conventional plantation models that rely on large expanses of land owned by corporations, the Umo Eno Tree Crop Revolution Initiative adopts a household and community-based approach. It is structured around smallholder farmers across the 31 local government areas, with each participating household receiving oil palm seedlings free of charge for cultivation.
As disclosed by the State Chief Executive, Akwa Ibom State Government has fully paid for 660,000 elite Tenera oil palm seedlings supplied by the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) for distribution to farmers across the state which will be distributed on a local government basis, targeting about 500 households per council area, while churches and other strategic groups have also been captured in the programme.
According to the Executive Director of NIFOR, Dr. Isona Gold, the elite Tenera oil palm seedlings are expected to mature and begin fruit production within four years of planting, thereby creating sustainable income streams for beneficiaries and supporting long-term rural economic development.
Farmers, as explained by Gov. Eno, have already been digitally profiled to ensure transparency and effective implementation of the initiative. Therefore, each beneficiary household will receive seedlings capable of cultivating approximately a quarter hectare of farmland, while farmers with greater capacity will also be accommodated.
At the end of the programme’s initial five-year phase the state anticipates that over 60,000 hectares of land would have been cultivated, thereby generating substantial volumes of fresh fruit bunches to attract commercial and industrial processing investments. The long-term goal therefore is to establish Akwa Ibom as a major oil palm production and processing hub with visibility on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Furthermore, the initiative is also expected to contribute directly to food availability through income generation for rural households. With thousands of farmers already enumerated across all local government areas through collaboration between the Akwa Ibom Agricultural Development Programme (AKADEP), the Ministry of Agriculture, and local government committees, participating families are expected to experience improved purchasing power, enabling them to access food and meet household nutritional needs.
In addition, the programme is designed to place “wealth directly into the hands of our people”, says Gov. Eno, stressing that government’s responsibility is not to distribute unsustainable handouts but to provide productive assets capable of generating lasting prosperity.
“I was not raised to take government money and distribute recklessly. Instead, we will put productive assets and opportunities into the hands of our people so they can create sustainable wealth for themselves,” he stated.
Another important dimension of the Tree Crop Revolution Initiative is employment generation across the agricultural value chain as the initiative is expected to create opportunities in nursery management, plantation cultivation, harvesting, transportation, processing, and marketing.
Consequently, the programme is positioned to reduce rural unemployment and discourage youth migration to urban centres, while strengthening local food production systems and economic stability.
Mechanised farming support, highlighted as one of the programme’s critical pillars, further aligns with the ARISE Agenda’s commitment to modernising agriculture. Recall that recently, Governor Umo Eno commissioned the Ibom Agricultural Equipment Leasing Company to enhance access to mechanised farming equipment. Increased mechanisation is expected to improve productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, and support commercial-scale agricultural production capable of meeting growing food and industrial demands.
Interestingly, the Umo Eno Tree Crops Revolution Initiative also promotes the productive utilisation of land across rural communities as underutilised land resources can now be transformed into economically viable plantations producing both food and industrial raw materials, aligning directly with the ARISE Agenda’s agricultural objective of repositioning Akwa Ibom as a leading agro-industrial hub in Nigeria.
It might interest you to know that under the ARISE Agenda, agriculture is viewed not just as subsistence farming but as a business-oriented sector capable of attracting investment, generating employment, and driving industrialisation therefore, this initiative supports the ARISE Agenda’s broader goals of economic diversification, rural development, wealth creation, and sustainable prosperity.
The programme’s emphasis on agro-industrial development reflects a deliberate strategy of building value chains around agricultural commodities. Rather than depending solely on the export of raw produce, the Umo Eno administration seeks to encourage processing industries capable of adding value to tree crops, expanding industrial activities, increasing internally generated revenue, and creating export opportunities.
While speaking, Governor Eno also revealed that the state government plans to establish produce buying centres across Akwa Ibom to purchase fresh fruit bunches directly from farmers at fair market prices. The objective according to him will ensure that “the financial benefits go directly into the pockets of our people”, thereby creating an organised and sustainable supply chain for industrial processors.
In essence, the Umo Eno Tree Crop Revolution is both an agricultural and economic transformation strategy that supports food availability through increased agricultural output, household empowerment, and rural economic development, while simultaneously advancing the ARISE Agenda’s objectives of agricultural transformation, industrialisation, and sustainable prosperity for the people of Akwa Ibom State.
