MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Willie tells global community to lend helping hand and make palm oil industry sustainable
Willie tells global community to lend helping hand and make palm oil industry sustainable
09.02.2022 (www.theedgemarkets.com) - KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 9): The global community should be offering a helping hand to the palm oil industry should they want the producers to produce sustainable palm oil, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Willie Anak Mongin said.
He said it is not right for the global community to only pressure, condemn and criticise the industry instead of giving guidance and resources for the industry to grow sustainably.
“If the global community wants us to produce sustainable palm oil, they should help us and give us space to be sustainable.
“To be sustainable, it takes time. A lot of things are involved in that process and everything is important during the process. We have to work together,” he said at the question and answer session during the Palm Oil Sustainability Debate@Dubai which was also broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday (Feb 9).
He said Malaysia has been working tirelessly and engaging with global experts to ensure and prove that palm oil products are healthy, packed with nutrients and planted in sustainable manners.
“But we kept being attacked again, saying that we using forced and child labour. Changes are happening around sustainability standards and if the global community keep on imposing again (rules etc), I would say there will be no way we can fulfil it,” he said.
He said Malaysia and other palm oil producers should be given a fair trade and be treated fairly because the industry is important and contribute significantly to the country.
Willie said the industry is basically providing livelihood to about 700,000 smallholders and is contributing about 20% to 25% gross domestic product (GDP) to the country.
He said alternatives or replacing palm oil with other crops like sunflower, for example, would not be sustainable as it would require more acreage of land and produced 10 times lesser.
“Tell the truth about the industry. We are not interested to fight against other edible oils producers. Let’s work together and I urge the global community for us to be treated equally,” he said.
Earlier in his welcoming remarks, Willie said Malaysia would be launching the revised Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme standards in March 2022.
He said the revised standards would include improvements on matters related to social and labour good practices, high conservation values (HCV), social impact assessment (SIA) and quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Since the first introduction in 2013, MSPO standards have been revised to reduce ambiguity and increase credibility for international recognition.
As of Dec 31, 2021, Malaysia has achieved 92% of certified oil palm planted areas and 97% of certified palm oil mills.