29/06/2010 (Business Times) - OIL PALM ramets produced through the tissue culture process by TSH Biotech Sdn Bhd can double palm oil production from five metric tonnes per hectare currently to 10 metric tonnes as targeted by the government.

Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said TSH Biotech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TSH Resources Bhd, was producing the oil palm ramets to help the government in raising the income of smallholders in the oil palm sector.

"The oil palm smallholders also benefit from the success of TSH Biotech. This is an example of the continuing cooperation bet-ween government agencies and the private sector," he told reporters after visiting Wakuba Biotech, a lab facility owned by TSH Biotech, at Wakuba in Tawau yesterday.

He said TSH Biotech had been working closely with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board for the past five years to produce the new oil palm ramets and the company is now the biggest ramet producer in Sabah and Sarawak.

According to Hamzah, the cloned shoots from TSH Biotech's lab can bear fruit in 18 months, a shorter period compared to normal oil palm seedlings.

He said the trees were also shorter compared to normal oil palm trees and could be productive from 28 to 30 years. - Bernama