Skip to main content

Oil Palm Frenzy

One of the single most frustrating part of introducing myself as a Malaysian, is being told that Malaysia is "No.1 in Palm Oil!". Then I would say something caustic to wipe that enthusiastic smiles of their faces. Unfortunately, there is this pervasive belief that Malaysia is a wonderful model to emulate in terms of becoming a world class producer of palm oil. At present, Philippines is number 6 but unable to produce enough to meet its own domestic needs. It is still a net importer of palm oil. 



The same sentiments were echoed by the officer in-charge of the Philippines Palmoil Development Council, Inc. (PPDCI) which is located conveniently in Tacurong. Here,  I obtained an investment brief pamphlet from PPDCI which propagates oil palm as "Asia's Miracle Palm Tree'. It was written by an academic, Dr Pablito P. Pamplona who expounds the benefits of oil palm as follows:-
  1. For small holders who constitute more than 90% of Mindanao farmers to generate from a small piece of land high income above the poverty threshhold level.
  2. This crop provides the best solution to overcome the worsening huge vegetable oil shortage of the country.
  3. The crop has the ability to produce large quantities of oil for biofuel and its by-products organic fertilizers and as feed stuff to generate biofuel and electricity to help solve the energy crisis of Mindanao.
  4. A unifying crop to help end the hostilities in Mindanao.
  5. A tool for the peoples of Mindanao to actively participate effectively in the global effort to mitigate climate change. 
Source: 'Investment Opportunities And Challenges in the Palm Oil Industry'
Paper presented on 12th July 2012 by Pablito, Pamplona, Ph.D 
 
Dr. Pamplona is also the Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of the PPDCI at present. A lot of his writings can be seen on the official website, http://ppdci.org/council. 
 
In an effort to understand his arguments as put forth in his paper, I looked at some alternative sources which had a more critical view of oil palm expansion. This invariably led me to the Forest Peoples Programme (FFP) website. One of the newsletters I found held some strong arguments, entitled 'Making Palm Oil Accountable?' (http://www.forestpeoples.org/topics/palm-oil-rspo/news/2011/12/making-palm-oil-accountable).
 
Some of the salient points raised in the article was about Indonesia's  aggressive expansion to become the number one producer in the world.
 
'Latest data from the Indonesian watchdog, SawithWatch, suggests            that oil palm plantations now cover 11 million hectares, up from 6 million hectares only five years ago.' (FFP Newsletter 2011)
 
This would mean that a lot of farm land was converted into plantations because the economic viability of oil palm. This is also the case in Sultan Kudrat, where a lot of the land used previously for planting paddy and vegetables has been converted to oil palm. This raises a food security issue because as much as one can produce palm oil, it can not substitute for staple food like rice. 

Oil palm plantations have expanded exponentially in Mindanao specifically in areas such as Agusan del Sur, however it has not deterred violence as seen in the recent clashes in ARMM regions. 

Another observation I would like to make is the need for investment in terms of setting up mills is still limited in Mindanao. Big corporations like Augmil and KIDI own the only two operating mills in Sultan Kudrat and Agusan del Sur. Small holders/cooperative owned plantations still depend heavily on the mills to process their fruits. There is still alot of control exercised by these corporations in terms of determining the price of the fruit bunches sent to the mills. This is also highlighted by the FFP newsletter which cites Thailand as a good example of farmers negotiating for better prices for their fruits. 

FFP has done extensive research on the impact of oil palm plantations on people who have their rights usurped by capitalists. FFP also engages in intervention by working with marginalized communities in agitating for their rights, as well as hold these mega corporations accountable to the standards of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).


Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 10, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    informative blog. i came accrossed this article as i was reseaching on palm oil mills and producers here in Mindanao. thanks for the added knowledge.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MAPARBEMPCO

During the 1970's, a land dispute between First Southern Land and the residents of Barangay Mapantig occurred. First Southern Land occupied all available tracts of land to the consternation of the residents of the area. People were driven away from their farms and some were even taken to court and imprisoned. Upon facing serious resistance from the company, the villagers gave up and some even moved to different locales in order to survive when the land was taken from them.  When the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform programme was implemented during the presidency of Corazon Aquino, the villagers saw an opportunity arising to get back their land.  However, the company applied for a deferment of 10 years which delayed further the implementation of the land reform programme. Finally in 1998, the Department of Agriculture decreed that the land being occupied by the Kenram Estate (the name of the plantation) would be subjected to agrarian reform. The residents who w...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Library for Kampung Tering

Murni Bte Liga of Kampung Tering, an idyllic village in the outskirts of Kuala Pilah, has a burning desire. She is passionate about improving access to quality education for her community. She has often raised her concerns about quality education for Orang Asli children in meetings with authorities or civil society organizations. One of the issues that she finds problematic is the high attrition among Orang Asli children at primary and secondary school levels. In order to address the issue at her village, she decided to set up a functioning library which could be used by the children. Women from the village organizing the reading material for the library She noted the interest of mothers' in the village who want their children to improve their English language skills. She expressed her interest in running workshops on a monthly basis for her community. The workshops would focus on improving the language skills of the children who participate.  Essay writing activities ...
1 comment
Read more

Day One: Household Interviews

Meeting Mrs Panaso  We reached our final respondent for the day, Mrs Panaso at almost 1 pm. Her house was a typical traditional house. It had no rooms, some wooden shelves inside and a lot of bundles. The walls were made of kalakat which is woven oil palm fronds. The fronds are woven and painted over with shellac to make it water proof. Oil palm the fronds are dried until they turn yellow and then used for kalakat.  Mrs Panaso was a very slim woman of 60 with a shock of dyed brown hair. She is cheerful by nature and very accomodating. She was about to start her lunch of small dried fish, rice and fluffy brown dish of something I did not recognize.  Mrs Panaso's deep well Her house had an open air kitchen which was a cheerful and warm place. She used fire wood for her cooking. She also had a deep well from which she obtained her water supply. The metal pump looked unwieldy to manoeuvre and I wondered how she managed. Mrs Panaso's open stove ...
Post a Comment
Read more