MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Production of palm oil done in sustainable manner
Production of palm oil done in sustainable manner
19/6/07 (The Star) - KUALA LUMPUR: The production of palm oil is done in a sustainable manner in Malaysia, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui on Tuesday.
The production of palm oil is done in a sustainable manner in Malaysia, he said.
Through its research and development (R&D) efforts, Malaysia had developed environmentally-friendly practices in oil palm management and production, he said during the opening of Seminar on Oil Palm Industry in Malaysia on Tuesday.
“As a policy, we do not develop (the plantations) from virgin forests. The cultivation concentrated in logged over areas. When palm oil became more profitable due to the low prices of rubber in the last three decades, we merely converted rubber estates into oil palm plantations,” he said.
Opening of new land was kept to bare minimum, said Chin whose speech was read out by Malaysian Palm Oil Board deputy director general Dr Choo Yuen May.
Chin said efforts to tarnish the image of palm oil on nutritional grounds in the 1980s were unsuccessful because of scientific R&D findings in favour of palm oil obtained from renowned R&D institutions worldwide.
In recent times, the industry again faced negative publicity campaign due to opposition to opening of new oil palm plantations, he said.
“There is pressure for palm oil to be from green and sustainable production and this must be seriously looked into,” he said.
Chin said the Government has set a 35:25 vision, which refers to production yield of 35 tonnes oil palm fresh fruit bunches per hectare per year and 25% oil extraction rate by 2020.
That means doubling palm oil obtained per hectare from 3.93 tonnes per year to over 8 tonnes per year.
The production of palm oil is done in a sustainable manner in Malaysia, he said.
Through its research and development (R&D) efforts, Malaysia had developed environmentally-friendly practices in oil palm management and production, he said during the opening of Seminar on Oil Palm Industry in Malaysia on Tuesday.
“As a policy, we do not develop (the plantations) from virgin forests. The cultivation concentrated in logged over areas. When palm oil became more profitable due to the low prices of rubber in the last three decades, we merely converted rubber estates into oil palm plantations,” he said.
Opening of new land was kept to bare minimum, said Chin whose speech was read out by Malaysian Palm Oil Board deputy director general Dr Choo Yuen May.
Chin said efforts to tarnish the image of palm oil on nutritional grounds in the 1980s were unsuccessful because of scientific R&D findings in favour of palm oil obtained from renowned R&D institutions worldwide.
In recent times, the industry again faced negative publicity campaign due to opposition to opening of new oil palm plantations, he said.
“There is pressure for palm oil to be from green and sustainable production and this must be seriously looked into,” he said.
Chin said the Government has set a 35:25 vision, which refers to production yield of 35 tonnes oil palm fresh fruit bunches per hectare per year and 25% oil extraction rate by 2020.
That means doubling palm oil obtained per hectare from 3.93 tonnes per year to over 8 tonnes per year.