MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Palm-oil Players To Hold Congress; Industry Seen To Help ‘Cure’ Poverty
Palm-oil Players To Hold Congress; Industry Seen To Help ‘Cure’ Poverty
08/04/2013 (Business Mirror) - The Philippines’s palm-oil industry players and stakeholders will discuss ways to better promote the commodity and their products, as well as their future, at the Eighth National Palm Oil Congress at the Xavier Sports and Country Club in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental province, on April 18 and 19.
The congress will be held in an effort to help government reduce poverty, especially in Mindanao.
Official statistics show that Mindanao is home to nine of the country’s 15 poorest provinces: Zamboanga del Norte (52.9 percent), Agusan del Sur (51.2 percent), Surigao del Norte (47.9 percent), Maguindanao (44.6 percent), Zamboanga Sibugay (43.2 percent), Davao Oriental (42.5 percent), Sarangani (40.7 percent), Sulu (39.3 percent) and Lanao del Norte (39 percent).
The Aquino administration is bent on reducing poverty to 16.6 percent, or half the 1991 poverty rate of 33.1 percent.
The country’s poverty rate is 26.5 percent as of February. This means almost a third of the population earns less than P16,841 a year.
The palm-oil industry has the potential to “cure” poverty, said Rolando T. Dy, executive director of the Center for Food and Agribusiness of the University of Asia and the Pacific and a former director of A. Brown Co. Inc.
According to him, about 70,000 hectares of land in the Philippines are planted with oil palm trees.
“The Philippines heavily imports palm oil, the primary processed product of oil palm. It imported about 550,000 tons of refined palm oil in 2011, mostly from Malaysia, [supplying] 80 percent of the country’s requirements,” Dy said.
“The remaining 20 percent—about 150,000 tons—came from local farms. As the country grows, so is the demand for palm oil for cooking and baking,” he added.
According to the Philippine Palm Oil Development Council Inc. (PPDCI), the organizer of the congress, an estimated 1 million hectares in the country are suitable for oil palm trees.
“This is on the high side, as oil-palm areas are also suitable for other tree crops such as rubber, coffee and cacao,” Dy said.
Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona, PPDCI director, said the industry has played a vital role in significantly reducing poverty in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The three Southeast Asian nations have a combined 12,975,000 hectares in oil palm-tree plantations, drawing a combined per-capita income of $26,011 and an export income of $32.5 billion.
The PPDCI urged the Aquino administration not to neglect the industry and help the private sector develop its poverty-reduction potential as it “saves dollars through import substitution, provides jobs, and pays taxes to local communities in Agusan, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat [as well as] built communities.”
The congress will be held in an effort to help government reduce poverty, especially in Mindanao.
Official statistics show that Mindanao is home to nine of the country’s 15 poorest provinces: Zamboanga del Norte (52.9 percent), Agusan del Sur (51.2 percent), Surigao del Norte (47.9 percent), Maguindanao (44.6 percent), Zamboanga Sibugay (43.2 percent), Davao Oriental (42.5 percent), Sarangani (40.7 percent), Sulu (39.3 percent) and Lanao del Norte (39 percent).
The Aquino administration is bent on reducing poverty to 16.6 percent, or half the 1991 poverty rate of 33.1 percent.
The country’s poverty rate is 26.5 percent as of February. This means almost a third of the population earns less than P16,841 a year.
The palm-oil industry has the potential to “cure” poverty, said Rolando T. Dy, executive director of the Center for Food and Agribusiness of the University of Asia and the Pacific and a former director of A. Brown Co. Inc.
According to him, about 70,000 hectares of land in the Philippines are planted with oil palm trees.
“The Philippines heavily imports palm oil, the primary processed product of oil palm. It imported about 550,000 tons of refined palm oil in 2011, mostly from Malaysia, [supplying] 80 percent of the country’s requirements,” Dy said.
“The remaining 20 percent—about 150,000 tons—came from local farms. As the country grows, so is the demand for palm oil for cooking and baking,” he added.
According to the Philippine Palm Oil Development Council Inc. (PPDCI), the organizer of the congress, an estimated 1 million hectares in the country are suitable for oil palm trees.
“This is on the high side, as oil-palm areas are also suitable for other tree crops such as rubber, coffee and cacao,” Dy said.
Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona, PPDCI director, said the industry has played a vital role in significantly reducing poverty in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The three Southeast Asian nations have a combined 12,975,000 hectares in oil palm-tree plantations, drawing a combined per-capita income of $26,011 and an export income of $32.5 billion.
The PPDCI urged the Aquino administration not to neglect the industry and help the private sector develop its poverty-reduction potential as it “saves dollars through import substitution, provides jobs, and pays taxes to local communities in Agusan, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat [as well as] built communities.”