Palm Oil Industry free essay sample

Palm oil is under increasing scrutiny in relation to its effects on the environment. Palm oil, produced from the oil palm, is a basic source of income for many of the worlds rural poor in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. An estimated 1. 5 million small farmers grow the crop in Indonesia, whereas about 500,000 people are directly employed in the sector in Malaysia, plus those connected with spin offs. [1][2] Palm oil (from the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis) is long recognized in West African countries, and is widely used as a cooking oil. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use in Europe, but as the oil was bulky and cheap, palm oil remained rare outside West Africa. [citation needed] In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built large plantations of oil palm trees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey, King Ghezo passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms. We will write a custom essay sample on Palm Oil Industry or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders, for use as an industrial lubricant for the machines of Britains Industrial Revolution[citation needed]. Palm oil formed the basis of soap products, such as Lever Brothers (now Unilever) Sunlight Soap, and the American Palmolive brand. [11] By c.? 1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s. [citation needed] Oil palms were introduced to Java by the Dutch in 1848[12] and Malaysia (then the British colony of Malaya) in 1910 by Scotsman William Sime and English banker Henry Darby.