Dennis (seated 8th left, front row) and Paren (seated 9th left, front row) pose with the participants at Long Bemang.
MARUDI: Oil palm planters are required to obtain the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification by end of next year.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau said this requirement also applies to rural oil palm smallholders.
“All planters must accept the reality of the need and start the process from now before it is too late. Without possessing the certificate as required may cause one to be unable to sell his harvested oil palm fruits,” he reminded when officiating a seminar on ‘Pengurusan kelapa sawit Pekebun Kecil mampan kearah persijilan Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO)’ organised by Malaysian Palm oil Board (MPOB), Sarawak Oil Palm Berhad (SOPB) and the JKKK of Kampung Long Bemang recently.
“Living our life in a very rural area where certain requirement was not needed before for us to sell our cash crop is not an excuse especially for those involved in the planting of the most popular cash crop, that is oil palm, as a source of income. Of course it may take a little bit of hard work but I can assure you, if all planters practise the certification requirements in all your planting process, it will bring a better harvest and better price to Malaysian palm oil as it will be more saleable in world market. More buyers of our products will definitely bring benefits to everyone involved in the industry, directly or indirectly,” Dennis added.
More than 300 small farmers from Long Bemang and nearby longhouses attended the seminar.
Dennis further told the participants that the price of oil palm is affected by the world market and subject to the regulations of the world commodity governing body.
“Therefore, Malaysia has no choice but to accept the need to follow correct farming practices to be competitive including to have good relationship will world’s biggest economy such as China, India and European countries. When it comes to world commodities pricing, no one government can control the price to planters’ likings. Therefore, the government has to roll out efforts to make sure our nation’s produce are competitive. One of the most important aspects is to certify all interested parties including small planters at rural longhouses as per the requirement by purchasing nations,” he explained.
Dennis also informed that the Sarawak government had decided that no oil palm plantations can be established on state land except on native customary rights (NCR) land.
He said the government is encouraging more NCR land owners to plant oil palm with the assistance of state agencies.
Dennis hopes that more of such seminar will be held in Telang Usan to ensure all affected people are aware of the need for the certification.
Among the speakers at the seminar were Ministry of Primary Industries private secretary Paren Nyawi, head of Sustainability of SOPB Galau Melayong and TK Usong Deng.