{"id":16753,"date":"2026-06-20T12:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-partners-with-private-sector-to-boost-soy-oil-production\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:41:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:41:47","slug":"iita-partners-with-private-sector-to-boost-soy-oil-production","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-partners-with-private-sector-to-boost-soy-oil-production\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA partners with private sector to boost soy oil production"},"content":{"rendered":"IITA has pledged to provide its best soybean varieties to Al-Abass Holdings\u2014a private sector organization aiming to establish an edible oil refinery in Nigeria.\n<div id=\"attachment_2353\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 851px\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_DSC_0642.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2353\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_DSC_0642.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of the IITA team listening keenly to the proposition of the partners.\" width=\"851\" height=\"447\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2353\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2353\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The IITA team (left) listen keenly to the proposition of the partners (right).<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nNigeria consumes 70-80% of the palm oil it produces. Currently, 80% of oil palm production comes from scattered smallholdings spread over an estimated 1.6 million hectares of land. In contrast, plantations occupy only about 300,000 hectares, most which came up over the last decade with private sector investment.\n\nAccording to Abdoulrasaq Abass, Chief Executive Officer, Al-Abass Holdings, the projected edible oil refinery will create wealth for farmers and employment opportunities for Nigerians.\n\n\u201cWe want to start an edible oil refinery in Nigeria. Our goal is to produce edible oil in the country. In line with IITA\u2019s vision, we want to create more employment opportunities for Nigerians and work closely with farmers, supporting them to produce to world standards,\u201d Abass said.\n\nAbass was accompanied by Lukman Idris, Risk Manager, and Andre Pouzet, Agronomist at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.groupeavril.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Avril Group<\/a>\u2014a French agroindustrial group that specializes in oilseed for human and animal nutrition, renewable\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oleochemistry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chemistry<\/a>, and renewable\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Biodiesel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">energy<\/a>.\n\nAl-Abass Holdings works in partnership with Avril Group which primarily deals with the economic development of oilseed products such as rapeseed\u00a0and sunflower.\n\n\u201cI am here to understand the structure of soybean in Nigeria. We want to partner with IITA to get the best quality soybean. Avril enables a difference between industrial and financial activities; we will ensure a fair distribution of added value for the entire chain, from producers to consumers,\u201d Pouzet pledged.\n\nThe visitors were welcomed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/iita-staff\/ojo-david\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Ojo<\/a>, SARD-SC Soybean Scientist while\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2qMsKlz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zoumana Bamba<\/a>, Head, Capacity Development Office, on behalf of IITA, formally set this collaboration in motion on 11 May, when both parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Ibadan.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IITA has pledged to provide its best soybean varieties to Al-Abass Holdings\u2014a private sector organization aiming to establish an edible oil refinery in Nigeria.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16754,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[1931],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-16753","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-iita-news-no-2380soybeansoybean-oil","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-195"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24073,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/16753\/revisions\/24073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=16753"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=16753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}