MSPO incentives extended to more oil palm planters
PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) will part-fund audit fees for more oil palm estates to help them achieve Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification by 2019.
“The government shall partially fund MSPO audit fees for medium and big oil palm estates, so that, as a country, our planters can collectively meet the brand promise of MSPO certification,” said Plantations Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Mah Siew Keong.
The MSPO is a reflection of a unified code of laws concerning best practices throughout the palm oil supply chain, from planting to processing.
When one is MSPO-certified, it confirms that oil palm cultivation is being carried out while balancing the needs of people, profits and planet.
“MPOB will fund 70 per cent of the MSPO audit cost for estates measuring between 40.46ha and 1,000ha. For estates above 1,001ha, the incentive covers 30 per cent of the audit cost,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The minister earlier chaired a stakeholders meeting with 120 oil palm estate owners, here.
Present were Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Datu Nasrun Datu Mansur and the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk K. Yogeesvaran.
“For downstream operations, including mills, refineries and crushers, MPOB has agreed to fund 30 per cent of the MSPO audit cost,” he said.
As at the end of August, Mah said 245,381ha of oil palm estates and 22 mills had been MSPO-certified.
Mah reiterated that getting all oil palm planters in Malaysia MSPO-certified was a tough but necessary measure for the longterm prospects of the industry.
“We are working hard so that MSPO will gain international acceptance,” he said.
He said the government-driven MSPO was key to the Amsterdam Declaration, which requires that all palm oil shipped into Europe to be certified as sustainably produced by 2020.
MSPO would also facilitate better palm oil market access through multilateral or bilateral free trade agreements with buyers, he added.