Stay firm on expansion ban

THE recent move by the Primary Industries Ministry to ban further expansion of oil palm plantations is timely and justified. As expected, the voices of those opposing this move are coming out and it won’t be long before they turn into angry howls, particularly from the industry players.

Before somebody accuses me of being another tree-hugging hippie working for “foreign elements”, let me clarify that I am actually an industry professional who has been working with palm oil for over 20 years. In my work, I have travelled and lived extensively in palm oil-producing countries in South-East Asia, Africa, South America and the Pacific. I have planted millions of oil palm trees all over the world and reaped good economic benefits out of them.

I have personally seen how oil palm plantations transformed lives, societies and whole economies. Remote areas with communities on the verge of starvation have been “rescued” by oil palm companies. Villagers living a hand-tomouth existence could buy cars and send their children to universi- ties after they became involved in the industry. Roads, schools and clinics were introduced by oil palm companies, which followed these up with electricity supply, phone lines and clean drinking water.

But I have also seen many black sheep within the industry who operate solely for their own economic interest. Jungle trees have been extracted on the pretext of developing plantations but the plans were abandoned once the timbers were removed. Hills have been bulldozed, rivers polluted, precious wildlife habitats ignored and land forcefully acquired from the local population often with the complicity of the authorities. For some of these companies, sustainable initiatives are just nice buzzwords thrown around in their annual reports and presentations.

Even officers working in the estates sometimes perform their duties with a heavy heart, having to follow instructions from headquarters to indiscriminately clear more land. Many industry professionals are also dismayed by the situation but can only speak in hushed tones because of their affi- liation to their jobs.

I see no reason for plantation companies in Malaysia to hoard more land, particularly when most are no longer able to harvest all of their fruits due to the acute labour shortage. Productivity has been in decline for years nationwide, and no serious attempt has been made to address this.

Instead of trying to increase productivity and revenue from more cost-efficient production methods, companies want to acquire more land to plant more trees. Even those that are not able to harvest half of their trees (due to the lack of workers) are looking for more land to expand their plantations. There is no end to this greed.

Gone are the days when our country was covered almost in its entirety with forests and development was sorely needed. I do not think Malaysia has any more starving communities that need to be “rescued” by oil palm companies. Land, a scarce commodity in today’s world, should be treated with the utmost reverence and respect. At the same time, we cannot keep on importing cheap labour to feed this greed.

For the sake of the country, the planet and even the industry itself, the mindset has to change. Big players need to take the lead in using their deep pockets to find better ways to operate. The dependence on foreign labour, an issue discussed at every palm oil seminar, needs to be stopped.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board needs to be more proactive and resolute instead of coming up with the same excuses and solutions that do not work. Year after year, we see presentations of similar clunky machines that are not practical at seminars to justify research grants.

Downstream activities need to be encouraged, with the industry moving up the value chain.

We should aspire NOT to produce more farmers but to educate people on how to better utilise our resources. Oil palm plantations are good provided they are developed and managed in a sustainable way. But enough is enough.

L’AGRONOME CIVIL Tawau