KUCHING, Aug 24: Registration for the MSPO certification is to be made compulsory starting January 1, 2021.
Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities (KPPK) Willie Mongin said that mandatory warning letters regarding the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification would be distributed to SH license holders who have not registered.
This is to tackle the issue of low take-up in mandatory MSPO certification in Sarawak in which 21,606 PKP with land area of 129,783.34 hectares have not yet been certified.
“Until July 31, 2020, a total of 17,785 private smallholders (PKP) with the land area of 99,354.46 hectares in 34 Sustainable Palm Oil Cluster (SPOC) have been certified.
“However, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) found that the percentage of MSPO certification among the PKP is still low. Among them are the Q8 (Pantu, Bukit Begunan, Lingga, Simanggang), Q22 (Marudi) and Q30 groups (Sebauh),” he said.
On a related issue, he asserted that planting in the area of the Riparian Zone and at a gradient exceeding 25 degrees which is contrary to the concept of High Conservation Values (HCV) will be included in the standards of MSPO certification.
To avoid the withdrawal of MSPO certification from any smallholder in Sarawak, a warning will be issued regarding this rule.
Meanwhile, Willie also revealed the B20 Biodiesel Programme which aims to increase the current level of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) consumption from 534,000 tonnes per year to 1.06 million tonnes per year, will be implemented in the state on Sept 1 this year.
Additionally, he disclosed the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) would also improve and expand the rubber production incentive (IPG) claim method especially for smallholders living far inland due to lack of communication infrastructure in Sarawak.
“In addition, KPPK through the Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) will also welcome any company interested in venturing into pepper cultivation in order to accelerate (sic) the pepper industry to be more competitive.
“This is because the areas for pepper cultivation in 2019 were 7,132 hectares with a total of production of 33,164 tonnes cultivated by local smallholders,” he said during his courtesy call on Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas here today. — DayakDaily
