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TOP: Musa being briefed on a locally-made lorry by R&A Agriculture Equipment Sdn Bhd’s business development consultant Leong Chi Kong (left) while Tan (right) and others look on
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30th July, 2010
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah should learn from its past experience with tropical timber to avoid missing the opportunities in value-adding activities.
Opening PALMEX 2010, the Malaysian largest palm oil technology exposition currently being held at the Sabah Trade Centre here yesterday, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said Sabah was once a major producer of tropical timber but it missed the opportunity to add value to this natural resource.
“There were plans to venture into value-adding businesses but today we can hardly claim to have a timber downstream industry. We were probably in a comfort zone then and before we knew it, we were left behind.
“We cannot afford to repeat this and I hope palm oil players take value-adding of CPO and palm oil waste seriously. Use technology to promote bio-fertilisers that can to a certain extent substitute the chemical ones, and make use of empty fruit bunches to produce paper, briquette and pellets,” he said.
Musa who is also Finance Minister said he was told that fatty acid distillate could be used in the production of bio-diesel. “In short the opportunities are endless”.
And, he also said the palm oil sector must not continue to rely on foreign workers.
If it fully depends on foreign labour, it is taking a risk as a shortfall of human resources at the plantations will have repercussions.
Indonesia also needs people to work at their plantations.
Although foreign labour is vital for a sector that requires a large human resources base, there is a need to start moving towards increasing productivity.
And increasing productivity can be done through mechanisation, especially in the harvesting process.
“I wish to call on players in this sector to start paying more attention on using knowledge and technology to raise efficiency.
“By taking this step, I am confident the plantation sector will also be able to attract more locals to take up jobs,” he added.
Musa also said as an important part of the economic pie, the palm oil sector would fall short of fully playing its role in transforming the nation if it continued to depend heavily on foreign labour.
He said government policies aimed to shift Malaysia from a middle-income economy to one of high income, and that cheap foreign labour was an antithesis to a high-income society as it did not encourage the payment of high wages.
Earlier in his speech, Musa also reminded industry players that the growing global concern for the environment required them to emphasise on sustainability in exploring opportunities in oil palm sector.
He noted that some markets demanded the industry to improve the way it produced palm oil, and this included looking into the needs of wildlife and making sure that rivers were not polluted by their operations.
According to him, there were plantations that had done their best in caring for the environment “and I am confident they will continue to improve the way palm oil is produced to compete with other vegetable oils”.
Musa also said Malaysia and Indonesia have for many years been confronted with the anti-palm oil lobby which described this edible oil as unhealthy.
“And after we proved them wrong, palm oil producers were accused of destroying the forest and wildlife habitats.”
Unfortunately, the Chief Minister said, some of these accusations resulted from a combination of ignorance and exaggeration while some of the critics relied on a handful of photographs of dead animals or felled tress to substantiate their claims.
“While the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities tackle the issue at international stage, Sabah needs to do its part.
“Conferences and exhibitions held locally create opportunities for critics to see that some plantations do take the environment seriously, and genuinely care about wildlife habitats,” he said.
In this regards, he said planters in Sabah should continue to make efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, improve soil and water conservation, promote human rights as well as the optimisation of resources.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister stressed that Sabah was committed to its palm oil industrial clusters (POIC) in Lahad Datu and Sandakan, which it hoped would become hubs for the sector to expand its value.
He said instead of simply exporting crude palm oil (CPO), the industry must further invest in research and development to create value-added products.
“We are also hoping there will be more interest among foreign investors to set up base at our industrial clusters.
“The focus on multiplying the value of CPO and palm oil waste will create new and high-paying jobs for locals generate new business opportunities for entrepreneurs and encourage demand in other economic sectors,” he said.
Musa also said the time was ripe for serious commitment, not just from the government but also industry players, towards deepening the sector through technology and knowledge “and what better place to start than right here in Sabah, the biggest palm oil producer in Malaysia”.
Also present yesterday were Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, Federal Secretary to Sabah Datuk Mohd Hatta Abdul Aziz, the ministry’s permanent secretary Haji Hashim Paijan, the director of Industrial and Research Department Patrick Tan and CEO of Sabah POIC Dr Pang Teck Wai.
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