The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) advocating the cultivation of oil palm for its multiple benefits to the economy rebuffed myths around the highly lucrative commercial crop which traces its roots in the county to the late 1960s.
Elaborating on the many uses of the versatile crop and countering misconceptions about its impact on the environment, the PA at a media briefing said it cannot fathom the rationale behind preventing the cultivation of the enormously beneficial crop when the government had already flashed the green light.
“I cannot simply understand the logic behind stopping the cultivation of oil palm when there are clear guidelines issued by the government with regard to the extent of the cultivation,” PA Chairman Sunil Poholiyadde said.
As per the government guidelines, the maximum extent of oil palm that could be cultivated is 20,000ha which is less than three percent of the total land extent under plantation crops in the country.
Rubber and coconut cultivation can be extended to intermediate zones of the country where underutilised lands are abundantly available.
The country imports around 220,000MT of palm oil annually at a cost of around Rs. 30 billion. The current extent of oil palm cultivation in the country is around 11,000ha.
“The drain of foreign exchange on imports of palm oil could be minimised to a great extent if the rest of the extent could be cultivated,” Poholiyadde said.
Palm oil is used in about 50 percent of all the products from ice-cream to shampoo found in supermarkets. It is an extremely versatile crop which if properly managed can be beneficial for the environment. Per capita consumption reached about 7.7 kgs in 2015.
Oil palms are more efficient than other oil-producing crops. A single hectare can produce around 4.17 metric tons of palm oil a year compared to 0.56 tons off sunflower oil, 0.39 tons of soybean oil and 0.16 tons of groundnut oil according to statistics. The crop has a life span of around 30 years.
Sri Lanka produces less than 25 percent of the total requirement of the oil.
“Oil production per hectare of oil palm is four times higher than coconut oil and income is three times over rubber,” Prof. Asoka Nugawela of the Faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management, University of Wayamba said.
However, environmentalists and eco activists vehemently oppose the cultivation of the invasive crop which poses a threat to the environment.
Refuting myths that have created a fear psychosis regarding the crop, he said the notion that soil gets compacted when oil palm is cultivated, does not hold ground in Sri Lanka where oil palm is cultivated only in areas where the economic life span of the crop on the ground has been completed.
“In Sri Lanka, only diversification of other plantation crops (mainly rubber) to oil palm is being undertaken. Rubber plantations that are being diversified into oil palm are in its fifth generation and it is a well-accepted agronomic practice to undertake crop rotation,” Prof. Nugawela said.
Countering further views that oil palm cultivation results in high water loss amounting to around 500-600 litres on a dry and 400 litres in a normal day, he said areas earmarked for planting oil palm receive annual rainfall of more than 3,500mm which is substantially higher than what is needed by the crop.
As per the Coconut Research Institute’s guidelines oil palm is recommended only on agro ecological zones that receive over 2,500mm of annual rainfall.
“Oil palm fruits are harvested and collected to obtain oil. Therefore, availability in large numbers for natural dispensation and germination is not a question. The claim that oil palm needs eight to 10 times more fertiliser than rubber is false and misleading.
Oil palm needs only twice as much of fertiliser as rubber per unit land area of crop,” the Don said, adding that the oil palm industry in Sri Lanka is profitable only due to the import tax on palm oil is a false notion.
He said the current world market price for ripe oil palm fruits is around Rs. 22 per kg. In Sri Lanka the average cost of production and yield per hectare per annum is around Rs. 15 and 18,000 kgs.
Hence the profit from oil palm without import tax would be around Rs. 125,000 per ha per annum which is much higher than what is obtained from tea, rubber and coconut.
“We have brought the matter to the President and have apprised the Minister of Plantations Development on the value of promoting the crop but to no avail,” PA officials said, adding that many organisations and individuals with vested interests are opposing the cultivation.
The oil palm industry has helped lift millions out of poverty in Indonesia and Malaysia which together account for around 85 percent of the global production. Oil palm plantations have created a large number of well paying jobs enabling tens of thousands of smallholder farmers to own land in these countries.
The oil palm seedlings in the country was first planted by Gerry Wells (the last British planter) in the Nakiyadeniya estate in 1968.