Take value-adding activities seriously, palm oil players told

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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah should learn from its past experience with tropical timber industry to avoid missing opportunities in value-adding activities from the palm oil sector, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said.

MALAYSIAN-MADE LORRY: Musa inspecting the Malaysian-made lorry Seladang during the Palmex 2010.

MALAYSIAN-MADE LORRY: Musa inspecting the Malaysian-made lorry Seladang during the Palmex 2010.

Speaking at the opening of Palmex 2010, Malaysia’s largest palm oil technology expo held here, Musa said Sabah was once a major producer of tropical timber but the state missed the opportunity to add value to this natural resource.

“There were plans to venture into value-adding businesses but until today we can hardly claim to have a timber downstream industry,” he said.

“We were probably in a comfort zone then and before we knew it, we were left behind.

“We cannot afford to repeat this, and so I hope palm oil players take value-adding of crude palm oil and palm oil waste seriously,” he said.

Musa also said the focus must shift towards increasing productivity through mechanisation as the industry here could not continue relying on foreign workers, especially when Indonesian workers were now returning home to work at plantations there.

“I wish to call on players in the sector to start paying more attention towards using knowledge and technology to raise efficiency.

“By taking this step, I am confident the plantation sector will also be able to attract more locals to take up jobs,” he said.

Musa said with the aim of shifting Malaysia from a middle-income economy to that of high-income, the palm oil sector as an important part of the economic pie will fall short of playing its role in transforming the nation if it continued to depend heavily on foreign labour.

According to him, cheap foreign labour is an antithesis to a high income society as it does not encourage the payment of high wages.

He also called on the industry players in Sabah, where the state produces one-third of the country’s total crude palm oil, to play their roles in minimising the negative perception towards the palm oil development here.

“Malaysia and Indonesia have for many years been confronted with the anti-palm oil lobby which described this edible oil as unhealthy.

“After science proved them wrong, palm oil producers were accused of destroying forests and wildlife habitats,” he said.

“While the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry tackle the international stage, we in Sabah need to do our part.

“My message to planters in Sabah is to keep on taking ownership of issues such as reducing their carbon footprint, soil and water conservation, human rights and optimisation of resources,” he added.

Conferences and exhibitions held locally have also created opportunities for critics to see that some plantations were taking the environment seriously and genuinely care about wildlife habitats, Musa said. — Bernama