Latest certification to benefit small holders

KUCHING: Sarawak Oil Palm Planter Owners’ Association (Soppoa) will work closely with the state government and relevant authorities to help growers obtain the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification due for launch next month.

The MSPO standard, developed by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) together with the oil palm industry and relevant government agencies and guided by Sirim Bhd, is an alternative to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

It has been reported that almost 20% of the local palm oil industry are currently under voluntary RSPO certification.

The MSPO is the third such certification standard in the world for palm oil after the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), launched three years ago,

Soppoa said it understood that the Government was looking into financial assistance for small plantation owners to be certified under MSPO.

In a recent meeting, Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing urged Soppoa and industry players to stand united and work closely with the state government to continue to cultivate oil palm in areas earmarked for such developnment.

It said areas earmarked could be native customary rights (NCR) land, logged-over forest converted for agriculture purposes, whether in peat or mineral areas.

“Oil palm is one of the most impactful economy drivers in Malaysia and a very successful poverty eradication programme for the people in Sarawak. Soppoa believes that every country has the sovereign rights to use its land for sustainable agriculture.

“(Much) like the developed countries in EU (European Union) and US, lands are cleared for big scale farming of soya beans, corn, sunflower, rapeseed, cattle farming and others. Unfortunately, some NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are oppressing the people in this part of the world by dictating terms for developing countries on how they should use their land in the name of environment.

“Soppoa calls for people around the world to look at the issue from the perspective of human compassion,” Soppoa said in the statement.

The association said in Sarawak, land was the only resource that could improve the living standard of the people as more than 300,000 rural dwellers depended on the oil palm industry for jobs.

NCR landowners, it added, could participate in the government’s oil palm development scheme.

Based on the ministry’s figures, about 130,000ha of NCR land held by nearly 44,600 owners had been cultivated with oil palm with the help of land development agencies such as Salcra and Felcra.

Another 90,000ha had been planted by another 17,600 smallholders.

The ministry has set a target of opening up at least 600,000ha NCR land for oil palm estates.

There is an an estimated 1.5 million ha of NCR land in Sarawak, which is mostly under-utilised or left idle.