SARIKEI: The government has decided to limit the oil palm acreage to 6.5 million hectares although it allows the opening of new oil palm plantations.
This is aimed to rebut accusation by foreign countries which linked the palm oil industry with deforestation and destruction of biodiversity.
Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok said this in her reply to Sarikei MP Andrew Wong Ling Biu in parliament this week.
Limitation on the acreage was also made due to the fact that opening of new plantations did not guarantee an increase in production, she explained.
The government’s focus was to look into ways to increase production from the limited available resources, she added.
Among the mechanism and techniques identified were using genom technology to produce high quality seedlings or planting material; farm mechanisation and usage of machinery for harvesting, and development of proper fertilisation as well as disease control methods.
According to Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) website, as of 2018, the country had 5.849.330ha planted with oil palm comprising of 5,189,344ha already matured and 659,986ha immature.
Peninsula Malaysia has 2,727,608ha (2,407,163ha matured and 320,445 ha immature) or 46.6 per cent of planted areas, while Sabah has 1,549,245ha (1,378,655ha matured and 170,590ha immature) or 26.5 per cent, and Sarawak has 1,572,477ha (1,403,526ha matured and 168,951 ha immature) or 26.9 per cent.