PUTRAJAYA, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- Researcher and company director Yeo KimLuang has an interesting story to tell: Malaysia's humble palm oil biomasshas been more successful than other media produced by Japan, South Koreaor Germany in preventing soil erosion in sandstorm-prone deserts ofChina's outlying areas.

"Several methods have been tried out over the years and still continue tobe tried but the measure of success seen by our very own cost-effectiveEcomat, a product of the waste material of oil palm's empty fruit bunches(EFB), seems to have done the trick better," she said.

Yeo's company, EcoFibre Technology Sdn Bhd, has produced the soil erosionprevention medium following funding from the Ministry of Science,Technology and the Environment and co-operation from the Malaysian OilPalm Board (MPOB) and Forest Research Insitute of Malaysia (FRIM).

Back from a recent trip to China, Yeo has just witnessed the progress of atrial desert control project implemented last September at Yen Cin inwestern Beijing where soil erosion had caused many years of hardship tolocals.

The project, a government-to-government-backed project undertaken with thesupport of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment and thePrimary Industries Ministry, was initiated in July last year. Thisfollowed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between theMalaysian Palm Oil Board and Beijing Forestry Department.

The other methods which had been experimented upon to control sandstormsoil erosion included putting up barrier walls and special plastic covers.

"But the putting up of Ecomat mulching mats, with its nutrients thatenhanced soil quality and plant growth has worked well in addressing dry,hilly or rocky terrain prone to sand erosion," she told Bernama at thejust-concluded the International Palm Oil Conference here.

"Germany has also now gone into rubber-coated coconut husks to coversandstorm areas but this is relatively a much more expensive method. Theirprice would be almost triple the cost involved in using Ecomat," said Yeo,a qualified chemist from the Nanyang University of Singapore who has morethan 10 years of research experience in oil palm biomass.

"Malaysia 'really boleh'," she said with obvious pride, not only of herpersonal involvement in the project but also of the country's potential asa credible solution provider in the prevention of soil erosion anddesertification.

"The Chinese are really happy with the outcome," she said as she showedphotographs of the success of the Ecomat in the once dry terrains in YenChin as small Chinese pines had started growing on the hill slopes.

"However, this is only at the trial stage, and hopefully the Chinesegovernment can give this method a more serious evaluation in the controlof sandstorm soil erosion," said Yeo.

"Particularly with the 2008 Olympics around the corner, it would help ifmore sandstorm areas of China can adopt this method (of preventing soilerosion)," she said.

Yeo added,"They say that China can do anything that another country doesand it can. But in this case, it does not have the raw material and thisis working out good for us (in Malaysia)," she says, with a mischieviousglint.

Considering the huge potential for Ecomat, she said it was surprising howthe creation of the product began.

"Initially when I was working with various oil palm mills, one of the mostdifficult problems for oil palm mills was the issue of disposing of itsempty fruit bunches which were then considered waste material.

"We just laid out the empty fruit bunches around the palm trees. But withthe encouragement to optimise palm oil biomass, my research continued andwith collaboration from FRIM, the Ecofibrex machine for processing EFB wascreated and patented.

"During a trade mission to China organised by the Malaysian External TradeDevelopment Corporation (Matrade), I had the opportunity to see with myown eyes a sand storm. When I came back, I tested the Ecomat, simulated a"sandstorm' area and found the Ecomat to be a possible answer to sandstormsoil erosion control.

"I later approached the authorities and with co-operation from MPOB theproposal to try the Ecomat way for sandstorm erosion control came intofruition," she explained.

Closer to home, EcoFibre has also proposed its method to several companiesfor weak soil areas.

"I am also thinking of a project as big as the Sahara," Yeo said. And shemeans it.

-- BERNAMA