Business

Tuesday May 4, 2010

Palm oil players in M’sia, Indonesia form group

By JACK WONG jackwong@thestar.com.my


Collaboration to engage with RSPO for more practical sustainable criteria

KUCHING: Palm oil producers in Indonesia and Malaysia have established the Indonesia-Malaysia Palm Oil Group (IMPOG) to formalise their collaboration on sustainable palm oil development.

IMPOG’s first chairman will be from the Association of Plantation Investors of Malaysia in Indonesia, which will also serve as its secretariat this year.

“The chairmanship will be rotated bi-annually,” said a joint communique issued after the first meeting of Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil producers here yesterday.

Time to get proactive, says Purboyo Guritno.

The communique said the group had set up a steering committee to focus on emerging research and development, sustainability related issues and communication to stakeholders.

“IMPOG did not discuss any alternative sustainability certification scheme for palm oil. However, the meeting agreed to engage with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for a more practical and implementable scheme,” it added.

Earlier, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said Malaysia opposed the inclusion of greenhouse gas emission calculations in the RSPO principles and criteria for palm oil certification as such calculations varied widely from mineral soils to peatland.

“The adoption of greenhouse gas emission calculation when palm oil is used for food purposes does not create a level playing field. Producers of other food crops such as wheat, cattle and sheep are not subjected to such scrutiny,” he added.

He said the oil palm tree was unique because of its inherent high productivity and efficient carbon assimilation.

Dompok said under current practices, oil palm was the highest yielding crop in the world, easily surpassing, sometimes up to 10 times, the oil yield of competing oilseed crops.

He warned Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil producers, who together contribute some 85% of the world’s palm oil production, not to compromise on sustainable practices as the consequences would be damaging and have far-reaching impact on the industry.

Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) chairman Purboyo Guritno, who led the Indonesian delegation, said the time was ripe for palm oil producers in both countries to adopt a proactive strategy to counter the threats by the Western anti-palm oil movement.

“So far, we have always taken a defensive mode, hoping that the anti-palm oil movement will give up with improving knowledge on the positive impact of palm oil industry in poverty alleviation and economic growth, and the rising demand for food and energy that can only be met by palm oil development,” he said.

However, he said it was awful to see escalating threats from the anti-palm oil movement and the magnitude of challenges faced by the oil palm industry.

Purboyo said the meeting of palm oil producers in Malaysia and Indonesia marked an incredible turn of events to jointly address the growing pressures and threats from competitors and their allies in pushing for more rigorous environmental, social standards and requirements.

Six organisations that represent oil palm growers in Indonesia and Malaysia signed a memorandum of collaboration for the establishment of a producers’ cooperation forum on sustainable palm oil in Jakarta recently.

Besides Gapki, the other signatories were Malaysian Palm Oil Association, Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association, Association of Plantation Investors of Malaysia in Indonesia, Indonesia Oil Palm Smallholders Association and Federal Land Development Authority.

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