Nature Alert: Don: Efficient R&D crucial for palm oil to extend global presence

Sunday 28 June 2009

Don: Efficient R&D crucial for palm oil to extend global presence

Tuesday June 23, 2009 The Star, Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: An efficient research and development (R&D) operation is crucial for palm oil to maintain and extend its global presence as the industry moves into increasingly uncertain environment with economic dislocation and climatic changes.

Professor Denis J. Murphy from the University of Glamorgan said there were several major unresolved issues related to the biological aspects of oil palm R&D.

These include the environment context of oil palm cultivation, which encompasses numerous complex areas of science and policy making.

There are several major unresolved issues related to the biological aspects of oil palm R&D « PROF DENIS J. MURPHY

“One example is encouraging plantation biodiversity that is consistent with maintaining a sustainable level of production,” Murphy said at the 6th International Planters Conference organised by The Incorporated Society of Planters (ISP) yesterday.

He said the oil palm cropping system had unique advantage over annual oilseed crops such as soybean, rapeseed or sunflower, thanks to its year-round harvesting and multi-decade productive lifetime.

In addition, the oil palm has only just begun to benefit from modern high-tech breeding and selection techniques.

Earlier, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the current low crude palm oil (CPO) price of RM2,350 per tonne was a reflection of potentially higher production months ahead.

Even the Malaysian Palm Oil Board recently has revised downward its annual CPO production this year to 17.5 million tonnes from its earlier estimate of 17.7 million tonnes.

Dompok was speaking to reporters after officiating at the conference and witnessing the signing of two MoUs between ISP and Malaysian Palm Oil Council, and ISP with Felda Plantations Sdn Bhd yesterday.

CPO production growth in Malaysia was expected to stay weak for the next two years due to an aggressive replanting scheme and hot weather, which would aggravate yield stress in oil palm trees, industry observers said.

Meanwhile, ISP chief executive officer Azizan Abdullah said the international conference managed to attract close to 800 participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands.

More pertinent issues linked to sustainability and environment would be discussed today by key speakers from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Sime Darby Bhd, Indonesian Palm Oil Board and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council. — By Hanim Adnan

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/23/business/4172150&sec=business

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.