Stakeholders urge lifting of ban on oil palm

In the backdrop of Sri Lanka's most severe economic crisis on record, the Planters' Association of Ceylon (PA) is urging the Government to take urgent and immediate measures to reverse the ban on oil palm. In particular, the Association called for the development of a comprehensive policy framework for the sustainable expansion of oil palm cultivation - both for RPCs (regional plantations) and smallholders.

According to PA Chairman, Senaka Alawattegama, the solution for the nation’s macroeconomic woes, and those faced by citizens in Sri Lanka’s rural heartland is to be found in the opening up of sustainable oil palm cultivation to the smallholder sector. In particular, he emphasised the need to expand oil palm opportunities to rubber smallholders in marginal lands that have been decimated by adverse weather conditions and disease outbreaks, the PA said in a media statement.

"We are calling on the Government to not only reverse the ban, but also publicly acknowledge the value of this crop, and actively partner with RPCs in educating the public, and smallholders on its potential to reverse their economic hardships. Today, an RPC employee working in an oil palm estate earns a wage above Rs. 100,000. We cannot deny our rural communities such an opportunity. The question is not if we should move ahead, but how. This call is not just for the transformation of the oil palm sector but for the sustainable revitalisation of rural economies across the nation," he said.

Accordingly, Mr. Alawattegama called on the Government to explore a strategic policy framework for the sustainable expansion of oil palm into the smallholder sector. He also called on the Government to take positive steps to reverse the Gazette, which set a ban on any new cultivation and forced RPCs to uproot 10 per cent of their oil palm extents on an annual basis.

According to the CEO of AEN Oil Mills, Ruwan Goonewardene the island's sole commercial-scale producer of crude palm oil - smallholders across Kalutara and Kegalle are extremely eager to plant oil palm and commence supplying AEN, but for the Government ban.

"All allegations against oil palm have been scientifically proven to be false. But even with the science having been established beyond any reasonable doubt, there is still resistance to this crop. That is because this resistance has nothing to do with environmental protection whatsoever. The resistance is almost entirely the result of the fact that unlike tea and rubber, oil palm was never opened up and shared with smallholders. This has been the root cause of the entire campaign against this immensely valuable crop," Mr. Goonewardene said.