PUTRAJAYA, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Who would imagine that in the second halfof the millinnieum, oil palm plantations would turn into something quitedifferent from what they are today.

Maybe that is what the executive chairman of plantation giant, IOICorporation Bhd, Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng, had in vision when he talkedabout oil palm plantations functioning as bio-tech farms in what he called"new generations" of oil palm plantations.

Or perhaps not, but a lot of new age developments seems to be supportinghis vision. Already there are an increasing range of new technologiesready to be put into practice and to be exploited to bring about newopportunities in the palm oil industry.

However, these technologies would not stand alone, said Prof Dr PeterCaligari of the Intituto de Biologia vegetaly Biotecolgia, Chile.

"None of them is complete in any sense. They require the support andframework of more traditional biological, agronomic and engineering skillsand inputs," he said.

What technologies offer are further tools that could be deployed toachieve stated objectives.

"So, the breeders, physiologists, agronomists and engineers must recognisethat they can benefit enormously from inputs of scientists who can developand define the biotechnological approaches and so, enable us to apply whatwe now have available," he said.

"Clearly, these newcomers offer possibilities we could only dream aboutbefore," he said.

Lee from IOI and Dr Caligari are not just two people who have dreams orrather, who have visions about palm oil. Perhaps, some 1,500 people whoattended the five-day International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC) 2003 havetheirs too.

In the agriculture conference of the PIPOC alone, they were not justtalking about genetical modifications or GM, but numerous other wordsunknown to laymen like this writer.

As early as Tuesday morning, participants of the Agriculture Conferencewere fed with facts about "germplasm", "elite ortets" "clones" and"pisifera" -- whatever they are.

All these topics were discussed indepth, or may be in passing, and thiswas in the morning sesion alone.

And actually, a whole lot of other topics were deliberated in theChemistry and Technology Conference, Food Technology and NutritionConference, Oleochemical Conference, and Economic and Marketing Conferencewhich are being held concurrently after the opening of the congress byPrimary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik on Monday.

Perhaps, this was why Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, chairman of MalaysianPalm Oil Association (MPOA) talked about the need to be "street smart" andthe need to have the capacity to comprehend the "big picture".

Palm oil today is not only about what people use for frying with theirproven techno-economic advantages and excellent and versatile fryingproperties, as MPOB's Razali Ismail briefed at length during oneconference. But much more.

It is certainly more than what men and women use on their cheeks and lipsas cosmetics. Dr Luigi Rigano, director of the Institute of Skin andProducts Evaluation, of Italy describes it as "a real mine of skinfunctional ingredients," and this could open up much more possibilities inthe field of cosmetics and related fields.

Palm oil, indeed, can be a powerhouse as stated in the theme of thisyear's congress, "The Powerhouse for the Global Oils and Fats Economy".

And as Khalid of MPOA has said, it is also true that intellectualcapability will be critical in positioning the palm oil industry as thepowerhouse and being good at just producing goods will no longer besufficient.

-- BERNAMA