PETITE CROPS TO BOOST EXPORTS
New variety seen solving labour shortage and issue of land availability for new plantations
PLANT scientist Meilina Ong Abdullah treads between neat rows of young palms and points to a petite variety that she says may help revolutionise a US$19 billion (RM78.47 billion) Malaysian export crop.
The dwarf trees at a government research centre in Johor are clones of a new variety bred to be 30 per cent smaller than regular oil palms when they mature. That’s a significant advantage for farmers harvesting the fruit that can grow between thorny fronds up to five storeys high.
Seedlings of the Clonal Palm Series 2 (CPS2) variety — which can cost up to two times more than conventional plants — are being rolled out by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), the agency responsible for promoting and developing the country’s most valuable agricultural export.
The release of CPS2 is largely in response to a labour shortage and the shrinking availability of land for new plantations.
“Plantations need compact and dwarf materials to maximise land use,” says Meilina, head of the board’s breeding and tissue culture unit.
CPS2, whose smaller size enables farmers to grow more trees per hectare (ha), may help counter another challenge for palm oil: Sustainability.
The commodity, used in everything from chocolate and cosmetics to car fuel, is mired in controversy as native tropical rain forests inhabited by orangutans, rhinoceroses and other endangered species have increasingly made way for oilpalm groves.
In Malaysia, the groves cover 5.8 million hectares — an area more than twice the size of Massachusetts — as well as 12.3 million hectares in Indonesia.
Longer Life
CPS2’s shorter fronds enable farmers to plant 36 per cent more seedlings per hectare without reducing photosynthesis or yield quality. Meanwhile, their slower growth can add a decade to the economic life of a plantation, which is typically 25 years, according to Meilina.
“We have been trying to improve yields over the years and at the same time we want to be sustainable,” she said.
Non-governmental environmental organisation Greenpeace accused 25 palm oil producers last month of clearing more than 130,000ha of rain forest, including 51,600ha in the Indonesian province of Papua, since 2015.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered his government last month to halt issuing permits for new palm oil plantations and the expansion of existing ones for three years, while Malaysia’s government pledged to maintain its forest cover at 50 per cent.
Safer Harvests
CPS2 was capable of producing 35.7 tonnes of oil-palm fruit per hectare, twice the Malaysian national average, said Meilina. What’s more, its shorter stature makes harvesting safer and more efficient.
Rabobank International predicts that palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia, which accounts for about 85 per cent of global supply, will decline after 2022 because of limited land availability and dropping yields in ageing plantations, and if replanting is sluggish in Indonesia.
Ageing Palms
“Ageing palm-oil tree issues have resulted in lower year-on-year monthly Malaysian palm oil yields since May,” said the Dutch bank in a September 28 report.
While the MPOB ramps up commercial production of CPS2 seedlings — which cost RM25 to RM30 apiece, compared with RM15 for conventional plants — scientists are studying genetic variations that may confer resilience against disease and extreme weather.
“We’re now trying to identify the best material among the CPS2 and look at it at a molecular level,” she said.