PALM OIL NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY POLITICAL PROTECTIONISM

amanalladin
Jun 1, 2019
6 min read

It’s time for us to unite and reveal the truth of biased business agenda

In business world, we know it’s all about maximizing revenue and minimizing total cost to reach high net profit. However, as the population increase and the environment is largely affected, sustainable agenda is inevitable. Companies are putting sustainable practices in their operation as intrinsic value and responsibility. In Malaysia palm oil context, we have taken the effort to comply with Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification and later came up with local certification Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) not only for corporation but focusing for smallholders as well. FELDA had fully certified RSPO across its 317 schemes in 2015 but voluntarily withdrew in 2016 due to cost related while MSPO will be certified by end of 2019.

Regardless of what measures we have taken to comply in the aspects of legal, economically viable, environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial management and operations, the underlying truth of palm oil rich features should be highlighted to all palm oil community especially within FELDA. The topic below will highlight on the claim by other industrial players and related party towards palm oil that make those claims vague and unreasonable.

Attack on oil palm causes deforestation.

They say oil palm causes deforestation and contributes to climate change. On contrary, compared to oil palm, soy, corn and rapeseed require up to nine times more land to produce an equivalent yield of oil palm. Replacing oil palm for any other alternative oils would require more land. Isn’t deforestation is the very thing that we want to stop? Since it occupies lesser land, oil palm plantations also require lesser fertilizers, pesticides and fuel energy for the same output of oil produced.

According to 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) report, Malaysia’s forest area is 22,195,100ha or 67.6% (more than two-thirds) of the land area. Claims that the palm oil industry is affecting the forest cover is flawed as Malaysia maintains a much higher cover than many countries in the EU. Oil palm plantations in Malaysia are committed to the GAPs on plantation development where there is a strict policy against clearing of virgin forests and high conservation value areas. Globally, the area of four of the largest vegetable oil producer(palm oil, soybean, rapeseed and sunflowflower)reached about 200.5 million hectares in 2016. Of this, 61% comprises soybean plantation while oil palm plantation is only 10%.

If forest tree felling occurred in the region and later planted with oil palm, don’t be too quick to judge that the main purpose is to plant oil palm. The multi-million dollar log business is the most reason that the tree is being fell after long awaited of 50 years, at least. Oil palm probably is the best crop to provide equivalent oxygen to the air and giving good return with leaf area index of 5.6 which is comparable to the rainforests.

Biodiesel attack

In March 2019, EU labels biofuel from palm oil as unsustainable to environment and they will ban it for usage in the continent. Ironically, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results show that palm biofuel has a LCA GHG emission reduction, without methane capture, relative to fossil fuel of 60%. This is comparable to soya (67%), rapeseed (61%) and sunflower (51%). All of them exceed the 35% GHG emission savings threshold value of EU Directive and, thus, qualify to be considered as sustainable sources of biofuels for EU (MPOC 7th BIC,2014). Unlike fossil fuels, the combustion of palm oil biofuel does not increase the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as the oil is merely returning carbon dioxide obtained earlier from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. As such, biofuel is regarded as carbon neutral.

In scientificamerican.com, there is an article on Biofuels or Food?: Can Crops Feed Our Cars-And the Hungry?. The article argued on the rapid expansion of biofuel production only complicates the competition between food and fuel. In the meantime, there are some soap products from the western countries that use milk, rice bath and olive oil as the product ingredients for bathing purpose. Biodiesel range from B10 to B30, meaning it add only 10% to 30% mix with the fossil fuel. The claim on competition between food and fuel is baseless and double standard.

Milk & Rice Bath Soap sold in Western countries

Vitamin E

Palm oil consists of tocotrienols and tocopherols, making it a great source for vitamin E. On the other hand, corn oil only has a small amount of tocotrienols while canola and soybean oils have none.

Benefits of Palm Tocotrienols in Health and Disease Management

Vitamin E comprised of 2 subgroups namely the Tocotrienols and Tocopherols. Tocopherols are present in common vegetable oils such as soya and corn while tocotrienols are common in cereal grains such as rye (92mg/kg), oat (210mg/kg), rice bran (465mg/kg) and barley (910mg/kg). Tocotrienols are also in abundance in palm oil (940mg/kg). Palm oil also has the highest content of Vitamin E among oils and fats. Among Tocotrienols highlights are they induce hair growth, reduce wrinkling and oxidative stress, aid plasma cholesterol reduction in humans, demonstrate protective effects against osteoporosis, beneficial for ameliorating muscle degeneration in aging or muscular disease and inhibit cancer cell proliferation in prostate cancer.

Palm Oil ‘saturated fats’ is not bad after all

Saturated fat is a type of fat containing a high proportion of fatty acid molecules without double bonds. Since saturated fatty acids have no double bonds, monounsaturated fatty acids have one double bond and polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more double bonds, it requires less energy to break the bond. The picture below demonstrates the difference. I have also confirmed on the bond required energy to break with chemical engineer in my contact.

If saturated fat raises cholesterol (A causes B) and cholesterol causes heart disease (B causes C), then this must mean that saturated fat causes heart disease (A causes C).

However, at the time, this was not based on any experimental evidence in humans.

The worst among all fats is trans fats as most of them are produced artificially through hydrogenation (Dr Kalyana Sundram, MPOC). Meanwhile, recycle cooking oil is the most dangerous as it becomes rancid or spoiled whereby it may contain possibly carcinogenic free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that cause damage to DNA in cells.

Palm Oil leads to Death of Orang Utan and diminish their population

They claim palm oil expansion causes threat to the survival of Orang Utan population and also leads to death. The top exporters such as Malaysia and Indonesia have set up to protect the wildlife surrounding oil palm plantation and specialized animal care centers such as Orang Utan. Among the big ones are Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation and Semenggoh Nature Reserve.

Usable Oil Palm Trunk

Not only the empty fruit bunches and oil palm frond are usable, the oil palm trunk can be used when the tree fell during replanting time. In Malaysia, palm trunk plywood is used currently for non-structural materials such as formworks, cabinets, and packaging material. Hence, the enhanced quality of palm trunk plywood with a formaldehyde-free thermoplastic adhesive could produce a higher quality palm trunk plywood.

Other benefits of palm oil are as below:

European Parliament Members Visit to FELDA Plantation and dialogue session on negative campaign in the West

In December 2013, Several Members of the European Parliament visit a Felda plantation and FGV palm oil mill to get a wider view of the issues on palm oil negative campaign in the West. Organized by MPOC, the visit ended with a dialogue session with participants. Julie Girling and Emma McClarkin from the United Kingdom, Krzysztof Lisek from Poland and Emilio Menendez Del Valle from Spain. They also met local forest and wildlife officials, environmental NGOs and Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners farming under the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (SALCRA).

In the dialogue session, Girling, being a member of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the European Parliament said she has worked extensively on issues of food information for consumers in Europe, where there has been quite a strong lobby to have palm oil listed on food labels. She also said that many food manufacturers were stuck between a rock and a hard place. “They don’t want to promote sustainable palm oil, because nobody has noticed they are using palm oil. “When opposition comes calling, the easiest thing to do is often to just take the product off the shelves” she says. Bek-Nielsen thought that Malaysia is committed in producing sustainable palm oil. He also added that there was a lot of emotional rhetoric, versus informed decisions. Such are the challenges of the industry, especially in an era of social media where consumer pressure is a formidable weapon for campaigners. However, this has also ushered in the dawn of bite-sized information and most people don’t have the time or inclination to do research on complex issues. The full article can be found at The Star webpage title ‘Fact finding mission’.

Moving towards sustainable palm oil is essential to reduce the effects on the mother earth. As palm oil has rich features right from the fruits, empty fruit bunches, frond, trunk and leaves, it is called the golden crops as everything is usable and leave minimal waste. We as planter and administrator for palm oil industry should work together in rebutting the facts and continue working towards sustainable palm oil.

References:

Palm Oil and The Environment

http://www.mpoc.org.my/Palm_Oil_and_The_Environment.aspx

Fact-finding mission

https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/features/2013/12/19/factfinding-mission-on-palm-oil/

The U.S. government is poised to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/10/feds-poised-to-withdraw-longstanding-warnings-about-dietary-cholesterol/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1290f5bec98a