PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is working to strengthen the standards of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification scheme to planters in line with the National Agricommodity Policy 2021-2030 (DAKN 2030), says director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir.
In a statement yesterday, he said the MSPO standards were being revised with more stringent criteria aligned with global sustainability standards.
As of Feb 28, about 95% of all oil palm planted area has been MSPO-certified.
Ahmad Parveez noted that traceability requirements were being developed in consultation with stakeholders.
That said, MPOB is working on implementing strategies in line with the DAKN 2030 to accelerate growth of the palm oil sector.
“MPOB’s strategies in line with DAKN 2030’s five core thrusts – sustainability, productivity, value generation, market development and inclusivity will accelerate growth of the palm oil sector,” he added.
In collaboration with plantation companies, Ahmad Parveez said MPOB would provide smallholders training through extension services.
“Smallholders will also be assisted to carry out their replanting while plantations are encouraged to optimise their replanting programmes with high-yielding planting materials that have been commercialised to maximise profits in the long-run,” he pointed out.
MPOB has also assisted smallholders in adopting good agricultural practices such as optimal fertiliser application, effective pest and disease control, harvesting practices and field management to achieve maximum yields.For the upstream segment, Ahmad Parveez said MPOB is currently enhancing efforts to increase labour productivity by intensifying research to automate and mechanise field operations through joint public and private sector research.
Furthermore, for the midstream segment, MPOB’s focus is on technologies to automate plant-wide processing, quality control at the mills and refineries, as well as fresh fruit bunch grading and trash removal processes at the mills.
“This will be supported by technical assistance where necessary and certification process to assist lagging mills in upgrading their operations and efficiency,” he said.
For the downstream sector, MPOB would focus on producing high-value functional and performance food and non-food such as tocotrienols, feed, oleo and fuel products such as biodiesel.
“We are producing novel high-quality products which suit the local climatic conditions and culinary preferences of importing countries while providing cost and nutritional advantages.
“Potential food products include liquid cooking oils and solid fats as well as high-value food ingredients such as cocoa butter replacers, substitutes and extenders for chocolates, bakery and confectionery fats, butter oil and milk fat substitutes while non-food include oleo and fuel products,” he said.