The Power of Plants: Exploring the Benefits of Essential Oils
The importance of plants origin essential oil in both pharmaceutical and aromatherapy besides their traditional role as potent source of ingredients for cosmetics and fragrance production has opened up wide opportunities for global market. This is the importance of plants essay where the topic of plant oil will be revealed.
The worldwide market for essential oils has been estimated to be around $2.6 billion, with an annual growth rate of 7.5 percent. The production of essential oils plant origin in Nigeria is nearly zero as majority of essential oils used by our local industries are imported. It has been reported that, in 1993 alone, the sales of fragrances and flavours was about $19 billion in the world market. Out of this quantity, Nigeria did not gain anything but rather spend a whoppy sum of about $14 million on importation of flavours, fragrances and essential oils between June and December, 1994. It was also reported that, in 2017, the value of essential oil of plants brought to Nigeria from United Kingdom was about $36.7 million. Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has opined that a about 100,000kg of essential oils is needed annually in Nigeria, a figure that could be met through local production efforts.
The exportation of essential oils in the world market is presently dominated by the Indians, Chinese and Australians who are making significant income from these products in the international market. The demand for various types of essential oils is increasing with expansion and establishment of food, soft and alcoholic drinks, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry and various chemical/allied industries.
Nigeria is blessed with a diversity of flora, most of which has remained unexploited. Most essential oils currently in use by cosmetic, food, perfumery and pharmaceutical industries in Nigeria are imported. This occurrence can be attibuted to fact that, there is little or no local production of these all-important industrial intermediates in Nigeria.
To conclude, considering uses of essential oils coupled with the high cost of their importation, demand by chemical and allied industries and availability large flora of plants in Nigeria, there is need to look for appropriate method of producing essential oils locally. This will help to reduce whopping amount of money being used to import essential oil to the country and if production is upgraded to industrial level, it will form a base for export of essential oil of plant origin and at the same time foreign exchange savings and earnings will improve, thereby providing many job opportunities for the teeming population.
