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Palm Oil, Rubber NKEA To Pursue New, Existing Initiatives To Enhance Productivity
calendar25-05-2017 | linkBernama | Share This Post:

25/05/2017 (Bernama) - The Palm Oil and Rubber New Economic Area (NKEA) will continue to pursue new and existing initiatives to increase productivity and improve the livelihood of stakeholders in the upstream industry, as well as further add value in the downstream.

Under the Palm Oil NKEA for upstream section in 2016, a major initiative driven by the government was the full roll out of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification, which saw 122,521 hectares and seven palm oil mills being certified.

Outlining the initiatives in the National Transformation Programme Annual Report 2016 released today, the Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu) said a substantial pipeline had also been built for certification in 2017.

"From 2017 onwards, the MSPO development and certification would be carried out by the Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council, even though the Malaysian Palm Oil Board will remain involved in the development of smallholder certification.

"This would ensure streamlined certification processes and demonstrate Malaysia's commitment to achieving environmental sustainability in palm oil plantations," said Pemandu in the report.

On the downstream side, integration continues to gain momentum with more new projects in the commercialisation of high-value oleo derivatives, food and health products, as well as clinical trials globally to support the use of palm phytonutrients as health supplements.

"Under the 11th Malaysia Plan, RM280 million worth of grants have been allocated to support these initiatives," said the report.

As for the Rubber NKEA, it said the focus had been to increase demand, as well as enhance the quality of supply, hence the Malaysian Rubber Board was aggressively exploring new uses of rubber domestically and abroad, especially in the areas of green rubber for transportation and other industrial use.

"This was undertaken in collaboration with stakeholders in the public and domestic sectors to create true demand-driven growth," said the report.

The report said RM5.129 billion has been allocated to the Palm Oil and Rubber NKEA from 2011 until 2020.

Up until 2016, all allocations have either been spent or committed to be spent on new and existing initiatives, while the remaining funds will be staggered and released in stages until the projected completion of this NKEA in 2020.