KUCHING, Nov 29 — Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok today urged oil palm planters in Sarawak to obtain Sustainable Palm Oil Certification (MSPO) for their areas by end of 2019.
“We want to tell the world that we are good in agricultural practices among our oil palm planters,” she said after meeting Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association (DOPPA) here today.
She said the federal government has set aside RM30 million to assist oil palm plantations to obtain the certification.
Kok said her ministry is working closely with DOPPA and other oil palm planters’ associations in Sarawak, as well as the state’s Ministry of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development to push the for more oil palm areas to be MSPO-certified.
She said about 359,811 hectares or 24.4 per cent of the total acreage under oil palm in Sarawak have been MSPO-certified as of October 31, 2018.
Kok said it is imperative that palm oil products be sustainably sourced to meet the requirements of importing countries, especially the European Union.
She said EU is the second largest importer of palm oil products from Malaysia, accounting for 1.77 million metric tonnes last year, second after India (1.94 million metric tonnes) while China (1.61 million metric tonnes) came third.
Kok said in 2017, India imported 9.3 million metric tonnes of products from palm oil producing countries, while China came second with 7.8 million metric tones, followed by EU countries with 5.2 million metric tonnes.
She said while India and China are not that rigid on sustainably-sourced palm oil products, they could one day follow in the footsteps of EU countries.
Kok said the federal government is also looking at new markets for palm oil products, especially parts of Africa.
She said current prices of the commodity are low due mainly to the value of the Malaysian ringgit against the US dollar and stiff competition from palm oil producing countries, like Indonesia.
She expects the demand to pick up next year due to the demand for palm oil during the festive seasons, like Chinese New Year.
DOPPA president Richard Mani, who was also present at the press conference, said the low prices of oil palm fresh fruits are depressing to the smallholders.
“If the trend continues, many will abandon their smallholdings,” he said, explaining why they called for a meeting with the minister.
He said DOPPA wants the Primary Industries Ministry to provide subsidies to smallholders to keep their businesses sustainable in view of the low prices for the commodity.
*A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.
