I am Chimeremeze Emeh, and palm oil is not something I came to through research. It is something I grew up with.
In Ngwa land, Abia State, Eastern Nigeria, palm oil is not a commodity; it is a cultural constant, a god that we worship, if you like. It saved our ancestors from poverty and gave them nutrients.
Every household processes it, cooks with it, and understands its value from childhood. The oil palm tree is as familiar to me as the cassava plant that grew beside it.
I have watched palm fruit harvested, sterilised, pressed, and processed into the deep-red oil that defines my community’s cooking and identity.
That upbringing gave me something no amount of desk research can replicate — a firsthand understanding of palm oil from the ground up. Not from a factory or a supply chain report, but from the farm, the processing shed, and the kitchen.
Why I Built Palm Oil Pathway
Palm oil is one of the most misunderstood commodities in the world. In the West, it is often discussed primarily through the lens of deforestation and controversy.
In Nigeria and across Africa, it is a livelihood, a nutritional staple, and a deeply rooted part of daily life that predates the industrial palm oil industry by centuries.
I built Palm Oil Pathway to bridge that gap, to bring the full, honest story of palm oil to a global audience.
The cultivation, processing, different types and their uses, health questions, industrial applications, and economic realities for smallholder farmers across West Africa.
Everything on this site is written from inside that knowledge, not as an observer, but as someone from a palm oil community who has spent a lifetime understanding this crop and its value chain.
What PalmOil Pathway Covers
This site covers the full palm oil value chain, from oil palm cultivation and fruit harvesting through crude palm oil extraction, red palm oil processing, refining, palm kernel oil, derivatives, and the health and industrial applications of each form.
Whether you are a consumer, a smallholder farmer, a researcher, or an entrepreneur, Palm Oil Pathway is built to give you accurate, experience-backed information you can trust.
My Other Work
Beyond Palm Oil Pathway, I am a cassava farmer with over 30 years of hands-on experience and the founder of Cassava Pathway at cassavavaluechain.com, a dedicated resource on the cassava value chain in Nigeria.
My interest in agricultural value chains, traditional crops, and making practical farming knowledge accessible online runs through all of my work.
📧 chimeremeze@palmoilpalm.com
📍 Abia State, Eastern Nigeria