FUTURE CHALLENGES OF OIL PALM IN 21ST CENTURY

PALM OIL is derived from the flesh of the fruit of the oil palm species Elaeis guineensis. In its virgin form, the oil is bright orange-red due to the high content of carotene. Palm oil is nature’s gift to Malaysia, and Malaysia’s gift to the world. Palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature; a characteristic brought about by its approximate 50% saturation level. Palm oil (and its products) has good resistance to oxidation and heat at prolonged elevated temperatures; hence, making palm oil an ideal ingredient in frying and in other oil blends. Manufacturers and end-users around the world incorporate high percentages of palm oil in their frying oil blends for both performance and economic reasons. In fact, in many instances, palm oil has been used as 100% replacement for traditional hydrogenated seed oils such as soybean oil and canola oil. Products fried in palm oil include potato chips, french fries, doughnuts, ramen noodles, and nuts. Oil palm is currently at a historic crossroads as regards its future prospects as a versatile global oil crop. In 2005, oil palm became the world's leading commercial source of vegetable oil, and the continued expansion of Asian economies augers well for further growth in production. In the blog 'Anim Agriculture Technology' I write about the future challenges of oil palm industry in the 21st century for your references.

There are several significant challenges that face the oil palm industry, both biological and non-biological. The major biological and managerial challenge will be to tackle the stagnating yield that has characterised average plantation output over the past decade. Yield can be enhanced by developing and efficiently propagating/distributing improved germplasm for both large plantations and smallholders. Improved biocontrol of major pests and diseases, such as Ganoderma and rhinoceros beetle, will also have a significant impact. Oil quality can be improved by diversifying fatty acid composition to produce high-oleate varieties for mainstream edible/oleochemical use, as well as other useful acyl compositions, including nutraceutical components and enhanced vitamin A and E contents for higher-value niche markets. The whole spectrum of breeding approaches, from DNA marker-assisted selection to genetic engineering, is being deployed to meet these objectives. One of the potential threats to the future growth of oil palm as a source of high-quality foods and oleochemicals is the rapid emergence of biodiesel, which might destabilise the industry in the short term and adversely impact on its image and attractiveness for longer-term investment.

The future prospects for oil palm can be highlighted by considering the case of Malaysia, assuming that biological and management measures enable the quite realistic long-term target of a doubling of the average national yield to 7 - 8 mt/ha. We have seen that Palmitic or Oleic acid-rich oil from palm mesocarp is the most important edible oil crop produced in Asia, with excellent prospects for future growth. In addition, palm kernel oil is also the most widely used oleochemical feedstock for the manufacture of detergents and other lauric-based products. Over the past decade, the average yield of Malaysian palm oil on plantations has stagnated at 3.5 - 3.8 mt/ha. This is despite the availability of new clonal lines that can yield as much as 7.5 mt/ha. Malaysia currently produces about 14 mt/year of palm oil worth an annual $4 billion. This is in a country with a total gross national product of $60 billion. Therefore, the effective doubling of the palm oil yield that could be implemented following a successful breeding and mass-propagation programme with improved high-oleate cultivars could contribute a significant 6.6% extra to the overall gross national product of this single Asian country.

Prospects are equally bright for other centres of oil palm cultivation, such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, although more attention will need to be paid to environmental aspects of plantation development and management, especially in some parts of Indonesia. The example of Malaysia with its successful no-burn policy shows that environmental awareness and attention to sustainability issues need not come at the expense of economic performance. Meanwhile, commercial oil palm cultivation has spread to Africa and the Americas. For example, during the two decades from 1980 to 2000, over 100,000 hectares of new oil palm plantations were established in Columbia alone. More recently, from 1994 to 2003, additional oil palm plantings in the northern region of South America produced 0.6 MT of oil. This palm oil yield is equivalent to the oil yield from 5 million hectares of soybeans, or one sixth of the entire US soybean area. One can conclude that it seems likely that, notwithstanding the many challenges that face the industry, the 21st century could well witness the emergence of oil palm as the overwhelmingly dominant global oil crop for a wide range of edible and non-edible applications.
Thanks...
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021!...

By,
M Anim,
Taiping, Perak,
Malaysia.
(1 January 2021).