President Bouterse plants ‘Patamacca seed’

President Desi Bouterse, Chinese ambassador Zhang Jinxiong and Liu Jiang, general manager at China Zhong Heng Tai Investment Ltd, symbolically gave the starting signal for the palm oil project in Patamacca. The local market is scheduled to receive locally produced palm oil in December 2019.

General Manager Liu pointed out that he has waited 12 years to get this project off the ground. He referred to an agreement that the Surinamese government and China Zhong Heng Tai Investment Ltd had signed in 2004. “This agreement is one of the biggest investment projects of Suriname and China,” said Liu who added that the project will offer many benefits to Suriname. The project will provide palm oil to the local market and it will also turn Patamacca into the biggest producer of palm oil in the Caribbean region. Soeresh Algoe, minister of Agriculture, Stock Breeding and Fisheries (LVV), pointed out that several types of oil palm trees will be planted on 1,500 of the 40,000 hectares during the starting phase. The objective is to plant 130 oil palm trees per hectare. The Patamacca plant currently has 143 employees. The minister pointed out that 16,000 palm seeds have already been planted by Malaysian experts. The first oil production is expected to take place within the next 2 years. The factory that will be built within the next 2 years is expected to produce 6000 million liters in its first year. Production will then be increased to 8000 million liters. Most of the edible oil will end up on the local market and the rest will be exported. This way Suriname will not have to spend foreign currency on importing palm oil. The government can also expect to receive 5% of the profits on an annual basis. President Bouterse pointed out that “we must come to realize that there is money to be made with such agrarian projects and that these projects also create enough jobs.”