Our grip on traditional institutions must be strenghtened- the pioneers of the palm oil trade had West Africa as the base of their operations and this spawned giant conglomerates, now South-East Asia is the focus of this trade and the originating region is a net importer, the ‘descendants’ coming back to organise their ‘sires’. To be competitive in a diminished traditional industry do we adopt the much-maligned practices of our inheritors, to wit, massive plantation development with processing units,which have ecological consequences? After all, oil palm is native to West Africa and can be regarded as its natural habitat- by plantations we are only giving it a helping hand.