Multi-crop farming for sustainable oil palm plantations
23.07.2019 (The Star Online) - Multi-crop farming within oil palm plantations could improve the health of the soil, bring back wildlife and increase income for farm owners, says Wild Asia co-founder Reza Azmi.
"Diversity in your farm means organic material builds up in the soil, then you can talk about going chemical-free,” said Reza, adding that the increased plant biodiversity would also attract wildlife to return.
The Ministry of Primary Industries has been spearheading a push to make the Malaysian palm oil industry sustainable.
It has announced that oil palm plantations would be capped at 6.5 million hectares by 2023, and that all plantations would need to be certified under the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil certification scheme.
"If smallholders can work cooperatively then we can even start to think about wildlife corridors and finding creative solutions for wildlife that's been displaced by deforestation," he said.