Towards a More Inclusive Palm Oil Sector: What We Learned from Artisanal Mills in West and Central Africa

Across West and Central Africa, tens of thousands of small, informal palm oil mills quietly underpin food security, rural livelihoods, and local economies. They press the red palm oil that fills household pots for consumption, and provide income for women and youth in communities far from the reach of industrial plantations. Yet, for all their significance, artisanal mills have largely existed outside the scope of formal sustainability frameworks, including RSPO’s own standards. 

Recognising this gap, RSPO commissioned a study covering artisanal palm oil mills across five countries in West and Central Africa: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Through field interviews, stakeholder engagement, and desk research, the study set out to understand how these mills operate, what challenges they face, and what a credible pathway towards their inclusion in RSPO Certified supply chains might look like. The findings are illuminating and sobering.

What the Study Found

• Artisanal mills matter more than we often acknowledge. In many countries in the region, these mills supply more than half of all domestically consumed palm oil. The fresh fruit bunches (FFB) they process come almost exclusively from smallholder farmers, making them a critical link between rural producers and end consumers. There is also a growing international market, particularly among migrating communities in Europe and North America, for artisanal red palm oil, which is valued for its taste, nutritional qualities, and the livelihoods it supports.

• Their individual footprint is small; their collective impact is not. Each mill operates at a modest scale, but with tens of thousands operating across the region, the aggregated social and environmental effects are significant. Untreated effluent discharged into waterways, occupational health and safety hazards, and variable product quality are common challenges that, at scale, carry real consequences.

• Millers know they need to improve, but their priorities are practical. When asked what they need most, millers consistently pointed to two things: better processing technology to improve efficiency and reduce waste, and fairer, more stable market access with transparent pricing. Any credible sustainability pathway for this sector must speak to these immediate realities and incentives.

• Existing RSPO standards are not fit for purpose here. Both the RSPO Principles and Criteria (P&C) designed for industrial mills and plantations, and the Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard fall short of addressing the specific realities of artisanal milling. The compliance requirements are costly, the regulatory environment is informal, and the documentation expectations are misaligned with how these businesses actually operate. Nonetheless, most artisanal mills can be considered as independent palm oil mills (IPOM), so in current practice, the RSPO Supply Chain Certification (SCC) Standard is the standard that applies to them today. However, as flagged by the study, the SCC Standard for the IPOM mills should be assessed for gaps in social and environmental requirements, to ensure that artisanal mills and other independent mills meet requirements similar to those defined in the P&C for environmental impact. 

• Signals of change. The study identified genuine momentum behind a shift towards more sustainable production. Demand-side regulations such as the European Union No Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the UK Forest Risk Commodity (UKFRC) are reshaping buyer expectations. In Ghana, the Artisanal Palm Oil Millers Association of Ghana (APOMAG) has developed a QR-code traceability system linking retail products back to individual mills. Food safety concerns around adulterated products are raising consumer awareness. Additionally, structural drivers from rural finance institutions tying credit to compliance, to active support from development partners, including the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), are already creating platforms for change.

The study puts forward a series of recommendations for RSPO’s consideration, centered on a purpose-built, phased certification approach for artisanal mills — distinct from the existing P&C and ISH Standard — that reflects the realities of these operations. RSPO is now carefully reviewing these recommendations as part of its broader deliberations on the way forward, alongside the current work underway through the RSPO SCC Standard revision, which is exploring the potential to include social and environmental requirements for IPOM. 

RSPO recognises that this will not be without its challenges. Including artisanal mills in RSPO Certified supply chains can raise genuine challenges around greenwashing risks, standard credibility, verification at scale, and market readiness. These are not obstacles that can be neglected, and RSPO is approaching them seriously.

The study’s findings are now informing our deliberations on the most appropriate next steps. We are engaging with members, development partners, governments, and miller associations to determine whether and how a certification framework for inclusion of artisanal mills could be designed, piloted, and eventually scaled.

RSPO is certain that leaving artisanal mills outside the sustainability conversation is not an option. The scale of their collective impact, the communities they support, and the growing regulatory and market pressures they face demand a response. RSPO is committed to being part of it.

To read the full study on artisanal palm oil mills in West and Central Africa, download the report here. For inquiries, please contact Edem Asimadu at [email protected].