One woman's mission to save Nigeria's palms
One of Nigeria's former first ladies, Ajoke Muhammed, now devotes her
time to saving indigenous plants, including the West African nation's
many species of palm tree.
She has the largest private collection of plants in Nigeria, with more than 2,000 trees and shrubs, and 400 types of palm growing in her garden, built up over eight years in the capital, Abuja.
The 72-year-old imports many of Nigeria's endangered plants as seeds - her aim is to conserve, propagate and disseminate forgotten indigenous plants.
She often stops her car and disembarks to conduct a search whenever she drives past an area with dense foliage; she also organises plant expeditions to remote villages around Nigeria.
"There are plants everywhere but palms have a special aura," she says.
"They have the ability to transform an environment in a way that no other plant can."
For some people in temperate parts of the world, the palm tree symbolises a tropical, relaxing holiday, but for those who live in places where they grow, such as Nigeria, they are a vital economic resource.
Products as diverse as oil, sponges, brooms, wine and raffia are all made from the trees.
Palm products also form the raw material for other essential items, such as soap, salt, food and medicine.
However,
Nigeria's reliance on crude oil means the palm has long been neglected,
and many local species are in danger of becoming extinct.
There
are currently more than 2,000 species of palm around the world but,
nowadays, only about three to five are common in Nigeria.
"Half of the world's palms originate in Madagascar, but Africans are not interested," Mrs Muhammed says.
"It's
the Westerners who go there in search of plants that are going into
extinction, which they then take back to their own countries."
'Bewitched' plants
Nigeria was the world's leading producer of palm oil during the period of British rule, while West Africa was the centre of the palm industry.
In the 1870s, colonial administrators took palm seedlings from West Africa to Malaysia. Today, Malaysia is the global leader in oil palm plantations, production and export of palm oil products.
Its output, combined with that of Indonesia, far exceeds the quantity of palm oil produced by the entire continent of Africa.
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