Board: Over 85% of local oil palm plantations MSPO certified

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 85% of Malaysia’s 5.9 million hectares of oil palm plantation and about 90% of 452 palm oil mills have obtained the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification as at July 30.

Additionally, 99.64% or 231,576 organised smallholders with 679,075ha of palm oil plantations have received their MSPO certification, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said in a statement yesterday.

“The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry and the MPOB have been actively trying to make sure that all private smallholders will get their MSPO certification.

“Private smallholders under the sustainable palm oil clusters (SPOC) will be guided by MPOB’s guidance and counselling officers in implementing best agricultural practices to prepare for the MSPO group certification,” it said.

As at July this year, 162 SPOC groups nationwide have been certified, involving 62,009 smallholders with 237,876ha of oil palm plantation.

MPOB said one of the challenges in certifying private smallholders is ownership status, which is related to temporary land titles, encroached land and changing land use to oil palm cultivation. – Bernama