14/11/05 MIRI (Bernama) -- Four new subsidiary regulations will be enforced on Jan 1 next year to ensure better quality and productivity of palm oil, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin said here Monday.

He said that the regulations would also ensure the competitiveness of the commodity and its effectiveness in line with the global expansion of the industry especially on the issue of food safety.

Chin said that the subsidiary regulations aimed to achieve the highest standard of productivity by ensuring that quality elements are practised in all aspects of the industry.

The new regulations would replace the current subsidiary regulations, he said after launching a seminar concerning a scheme to provide quality oil palm seedlings for smallholders in Sabah and Sarawak here today.

The new subsidiary regulations are Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) (Licensing) Regulations 2005; Malaysian Palm Oil Board (Quality) Regulations, 2005; Malaysian Palm Oil Board (Registration Contracts) Regulations 2005; Malaysian Palm Oil Board (Compounded Offences) Regulations 2005.

The MPOB is given the task to develop and expand the oil palm industry and to ensure that the industry is healthy and competitive.

On the scheme to provide quality seedlings, Chin said that it is aimed at increasing the productivity of the oil palm plantations and improve the socio-economic status of smallholders in Sabah and Sarawak.

The schemes also wants to encourage proper planting of oil palm by the smallholders in the two states and to adopt the latest agronomy methods as well as expand their plantations.

He said that the ministry has sought an allocation of RM10 million under the Ninth Malaysia Plan for the scheme.

For 2006, MPOB will commence a scheme to assist the smallholders with an initial fund of RM2.04 million, he said.

Under the scheme, smallholders who replanted or planted oil palm, owned less than four ha and earned less than RM590 in Sabah and less than RM600 in Sarawak could be considered to receive the quality seedlings.

Earlier, in his speech Chin said that Sarawak is capable of increasing its hectarage by 100,000 ha per year in the next three years in line with the aim to reach one million hectarage of oil palm plantations by 2010.

Currently Sarawak's hectarage stands at 508,309 ha.

He said that in line with the rapid plantation of oil palm, milling capacity and processing have also been increased.

Up to the end of last year, there are 30 oil palm mills with capacity of 5.91 million tonnes per year operating in Sarawak, he said.

"A total of 12 mills with 1.75 million tonnes of capacity are still under construction and planning stage, to bring the total mills in Sarawak to 42 with 7.66 million tonnes capacity per year," he said.

-- BERNAMA