[BUKIT LAWIANG] Test tubes holding plants line shelves in a Malaysian laboratory, the heart of a breeding programme for dwarf palm oil trees which scientists hope will cut costs and limit the environmental damage caused by the controversial industry. Read more at The Business Times.
Test tubes holding plants line shelves in a Malaysian laboratory, the heart of a breeding programme for dwarf palm oil trees which scientists hope will cut costs and limit the environmental damage caused by the controversial industry.[BUKIT LAWIANG] Test tubes holding plants line shelves in a Malaysian laboratory, the heart of a breeding programme for dwarf palm oil trees which scientists hope will cut costs and limit the environmental damage caused by the controversial industry.
The adverse publicity, combined with rising stockpiles and sluggish demand from key importers, has led to precipitous falls in prices.Now the Malaysian Palm Oil Board hopes an initiative to breed smaller trees could go some way to improving industry woes.
A greater number of the trees can be packed into a smaller space, and they produce about 37.5 metric tonnes of palm oil fruit per hectare - twice the current per hectare average. In Malaysia alone, palm oil plantations already cover some 5.8 million hectares - roughly the size of Croatia.As part of the palm oil board's breeding programme, the dwarf trees have been planted in several areas, including on an estate in Bukit Lawiang in southern Johor state. The dwarf trees there are about five metres tall, compared to an average of about 7.5 metres for conventional trees in the area.
"Smallholders are poor and sustaining our daily life is a challenge due to depressed prices of crude palm oil," he told AFP. Using smaller trees is unlikely to be enough to take the sting out of environmental campaigns and growing opposition to palm oil, particularly in Europe.
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