Fed and state govts to work hand-in-hand to get MSPO certification for S’wak

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Kok (right) shakes hands with Uggah after the meeting.

KUCHING: The federal government will assist Sarawak to speed up the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification process for the palm oil industry in the state.

The federal Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok said only 591,233 hectares out of the total areas of 1.58million hectares under oil palm cultivation in Sarawak have obtained the MSPO certification to date.

She pointed out there was still plenty of room for improvement as this represented only 38 per cent of oil palm cultivated areas with such certification.

“Sarawak is also the second biggest producer of palm oil in the country. Our nationwide aim is to achieve 100 per cent MSPO certification by the end of the year.

“The Sarawak state government has agreed to help and to speed up the process,” she told the media after a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is also state Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, at his office here today.

Describing her meeting with Uggah as “very fruitful and friendly”, Kok added one of the issues faced in the certification process in Sarawak was in the land status condition.

“There are smallholder farmers planting oil palm on land meant for rubber or cocoa cultivation.

“So we need the state Land and Survey Department to help us change the status and Uggah has agreed to help on this,” she said, adding that her office had sent a list containing 7,000 names requesting the land status conversion.

She also explained that the MSPO certification is vital to allow Malaysia to continue to export palm oil to the European Union (EU) countries.

“We are committed to ensuring that palm oil is produced from sustainable planting sources and using good agricultural practices,” she added.

On a related note, she said Malaysia is now focussing on reaching out to Japan and China as the new markets for palm oil.

“These two countries are very big markets and full of potential for us.

“I hope to visit Japan in two months time and am now discussing with the Japanese ambassador in Kuala Lumpur for my visit,” she said.

According to Kok, a local company from Johore was now selling Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certified palm oil at a premium price to Japan.

“So this is a very encouraging news to us. As for China, we have already signed a MoU with a firm, China Green Food, in May this year.

“This is a first step for China to recognise our MSPO certified palm oil. We have worked very hard for this certification and if we can penetrate both Japan and China this will be a great boost for us and our MSPO certified palm oil,” she added.

Also present at the meeting were Assistant Minister of Native Land Development Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, acting Deputy State Secretary Datu Ik Pahon Joyik and officials from both the Ministry of Primary Industries and Ministry of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development.