The Dilemma/Paradox of The West African Oil Palm

Since plants provide the ultimate power base for all the food and energy chains and webs that hold our natural world together, they also form the hubs of community structure and thus the centers of our focus."
- John Eastman


Palm is life. The West African Oil palm- Elaeis Guineensis is a multipurpose tree of major importance in the world and more precisely, culturally, West Africa of which they are native to, as far as central Africa. We have been using the Oil palm for centuries and thousands of years and they have been an essential staple food, ingredient, material and symbol on the West African diet, ceremonies and rituals, and economy till today.

The Oil palm are cultivated especially for their oil bearing seeds and fruits and can be planted as a garden ornamental and also indoor potted plant. The oil palm is used for a million things to almost everything that we cannot do without it or avoid it. The fruits are rich in beneficial carotenoids and antioxidants and produce one of, if not the best edible medicinal oils in the world.

The Oil Palm thrives best in moist, humid conditions, in a wide range of tropical humid rich soils and very bright to partial sunlight. They come in male and female. Mostly males producing palm wine and females producing flowers and the fruits.

It is a shame that the Oil palm now, is linked to the destruction of native forests worldwide especially in Asia. Man has used large scale cultivation of this dear palm to terribly destabilize our environment and cause environmental and biodiversity degradation. There are ways to sustainably practice oil palm agriculture but that’s another talk for another day. 

However the oil palm tree is ironically actually good for rehabilitating degraded areas and supports insects, bats , birds and other rodent like animals and more... especially when they are in their native environments or naturalized and cultivated sustainably. 


If you have or ever get an oil palm in your home or garden, male or female, they should be a symbol and reminder of what is happening to our forests, climate change, and the little personal things we can do to push against the destruction of our environment. They are a beautiful palm with rich beautiful fruits. That’s why I love them.