19/9/06 (The Star)  - MIRI: Malaysia’s ecomat - an environmentally friendly oil palm by-product that has proven effective in halting the spread of deserts in China - has drawn keen interest from Libya and Lebanon.

The governments of these two Middle-East nations had ex-pressed interest in using ecomat in the massive stretches of deserts that are found in their oil-rich countries, with the hope that they can also prevent deserts from further eating up fertile agriculture land, said Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Da-tuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

“Libya and Lebanon are very keen to acquire the ecomat from our Malaysian manufacturer.

“In fact, the Lebanese Govern-ment had already proposed to carry out a project using our ecomat, but due to the war situation they have found themselves in, that project has been deferred. 

“Now, the Government of Libya wants to experiment with the ecomat in that country too.

“Arrangements are now being made with the Malaysian manufacturer (Ecofuture (M) Bhd) on the deal,” he said when interviewed recently.

The ecomat is a type of ground mat produced from the fibres of freshly harvested oil palm fruits.

The manufacturer, with the help of Chin’s ministry and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, had sent the ecomats in bulk to China for comprehensive testing and ground experiments. 

The ecomats were planted in four desert regions surrounding Beijing and proved effective in stopping the desert from spreading into fertile agriculture land.

The Chinese Government now wants the ecomat to be used not only for conservation and protection of agriculture land, but also as raw material for landscaping and beautification of Beijing City for the 2008 Olympic games.

Chin stressed that the keen interest shown by Libya and Lebanon augured well for ecomat’s future because these two countries would serve as the first testing ground for the ecomat in the Middle East region where there were huge expanses of desert and dry arid land.

“The Government and the ministry will help to promote the ecomat as much as we can as it is indeed a very useful by-product from our oil palm trees.

“However, the manufacturer must take the lead in promoting and marketing it globally.

“My ministry will also help to promote all other oil-palm related products because there are many useful products that can be made from oil palm waste,” he said.