29/08/2007 (Bernama), Kuala Lumpur - The average yield of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) is expected to increase by up to 25 tonnes per hectare per year with the application of new technologies, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), said today.

Its chairman, Datuk Sabri Ahmad, said this could be realised by using good planting materials such as PS1 seedlings from MPOB, GH500 seedlings from Golden Hope and other planting materials.

"These new seedlings, coupled with a good agronomic practices -- such as oil palm being planted only in suitable areas, would help Malaysia achieve the target and make it competitive in the global market," he said.

"By applying all these, it will ensure that the national avarage can effectively increase to 25 tonnes per hectare," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the International Palm Oil Congress here today.

The agency, said Sabri, hopes to see the additional one tonne of the FFB tonnage starting this year.

MPOB's initiatives in creating awareness towards higher productivity and the adoption of better agriculture practices, have helped the national average of FFB yield per hectare to increase by 3.8 percent to 19.6 tonnes per hectare last year, he said.

This in turn has contributed to the improvement of oil yield per hectare, which recorded a 3.4 percent year-on-year increase to 3.9 tonnes.

MPOB has launched 350 technologies and products as of last year, and out of these, 34 percent of them have been commercialised.

-- BERNAMA