J-Palm

Liberia | Climate, Climate & nature-based solutions, Nature Based Solution - Sustainable Forestry

The company

J-Palm Liberia manufactures natural health and beauty products from palm kernel oil and uses blockchain technology for traceability.

Problem

Liberia’s smallholder farmers lack access to processing machinery and markets for their palm kernels. As a result, they largely throw away the palm kernels, losing thousands of dollars in potential income. This technology gap causes farming communities to miss out on important economic development opportunities.

GSMA project

In November 2022, J-Palm received a GSMA grant to develop two mobile blockchain apps for transparency and traceability in Liberia’s wild[1]harvest palm oil supply chains. This helps protect forests, improve harvesters’ incomes and livelihoods and produce sustainable palm oil products that strengthen community resilience to climate change.

Outcomes

Developing the traceability technology helped J-Palm secure commercial contracts with a US soap manufacturer and boost farmer incomes.
J-Palm built 30 mini processing mills, which reduce processing time, water consumption and increase oil extraction rates.

Traction

More than 3,000 palm harvesters and collectors use the traceability app to improve transparency throughout the value chain, from palm fruit to palm oil and palm kernel.
The status of more than 139 trees is now being tracked through the blockchain[1]enabled traceability app.

To find out more, read the J-Palm case study.

Scaling journey

A message from the founder

“Our goal at J-Palm has always been to build a business that helps local communities thrive economically, while preserving and enhancing the natural environment. The partnership with GSMA enables us to scale our work in important ways that build climate resilience and economic stability in rural communities in Liberia.”