SANDAKAN, Jan 27 — For Ettol Kumpilon, the switch from growing rice to oil palm on his small family farm in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah has enabled him to renovate his home, send his eldest child to school and build up a healthy pot of savings.
“ there is definitely a temperature difference now in my village, compared to in the 1980s. The fertility of our land was better when things were cooler.” Nonetheless, 65 per cent of Sabah is still covered by lush forests home to often-endangered wildlife including wild boar, orangutans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants.
Helping steer Sabah’s palm oil sector towards a greener future under the initiative — which unites growers and consumers, local communities and conservation groups — is the state forestry department’s chief conservator, Frederick Kugan. The focus this year will be on ramping up pilot projects that have helped small farmers qualify as green and ethical.
“Oil palm is a very important commodity to the state, so we are here to protect the industry to ensure that whatever palm is produced from Sabah is accepted by the market.” Malaysia has lost nearly a fifth of its old-growth forest since 2001. It set a five-year cap on its total palm oil plantation area in 2019 and outlined plans to increase fines and jail terms for illegal logging.
Sabah will likely struggle to compete in the global palm oil market with emerging producers in Indonesia, Africa and South America, said Robecca Jumin, head of conservation in Sabah for WWF-Malaysia, which backs the JCSPO. The key to success is a fully enclosed and controlled supply chain from plantation to mill and refinery, she added.