THE PALM OIL DILEMMA-INDIAN ROLE

Two countries which are on the dock for destroying forests at an alarming rate for cultivating commercial crops are Brazil and Indonesia. While sugar cane cultivation is being expanded recklessly after deforestation in Brazil, Indonesia is attracting world-wide criticism for the mindless destruction of its tropical forests for planting Oil Palm. The disastrous consequences of deforestation are well known in the form of increased carbon emissions worsening the global warming problem which is putting this planet on peril. Deforestation also destroys the flora and fauna of the region, hurtling some of them into extinction. The issue has two sides-one linked to the economic well being of people depending on palm cultivation and export of the oil while the other concerns the global community which is seriously worried about the ill-effects of green gas emissions. India has been dragged into this emerging controversy because of its over dependence on imported palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. The complexity of the problem is addressed in the following critique though no solution seems to be in sight for overcoming the same.   

"The lush Indonesian rainforest cover is being stripped at an alarming rate for illegal logging and palm oil plantations due to demand for the commodity in India. Companies catering to domestic needs have failed to ensure clean and sustainable source of the cheap palm oil, resulting in the rapid destruction of the rainforest which is home to thousands of plant and animal species, a Greenpeace report has stated. The report 'Frying the forest – how India's use of palm oil is having a devastating impact on Indonesia's rain forests, tigers and the global climate', was released recently in Mumbai. "The issue is that India is the biggest importer of palm oil with imports of 7.2 million tonnes per year. As the world's largest user of palm oil, India has an opportunity and a responsibility to ensure that its purchases of products such as palm oil are coming from responsible sources and aren't linked to rain forest and peat land destruction, and the resulting climate-changing emissions," Nandikesh Sivalingam, Greenpeace forest campaigner, said during the release of the report here. Mr G. Chandrashekar, noted journalist, while releasing the report said that the world cannot survive without palm oil because it is a cheap source of calories, but neither can it afford to destroy its rainforests. He said it was time for oil-producing countries to follow strict rules and regulations to protect the rain forest".

Probably Governments in India during the last 3 decades are to be partially blamed for making the country over-dependent on imported edible oils. This is due to the faulty implementation of policies that would have allowed increased production of oils from sources like groundnut, mustard, sesame, soybean etc for which Indian farmer has the necessary experience. In stead a crop like sugar cane is promoted which has tremendous water requirement and other inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  The 1990 Oilseed Mission of Government of India, planned and executed with no missionary zeal had flopped wasting millions of rupees without any significant increase in production. The domestic production is almost stagnant during the last two decades while the demand was growing at a frenetic pace. The new certification system by the Greenpeace movement that promotes palm oil produced by sustaining cultivation practices is yet to be accepted universally and blaming India for buying this commodity from those producers who do not have such certification may not be justified. After all as a responsible government, it is its bounden duty to provide adequate food to its citizens and under the present conditions India does not seem to have any option but to continue to import palm oil from where ever it is available in the world market.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

FUTURE OF PALM OIL-LOOMING UNCERTAINTIES

Countries like Malaysia and Indonesia are blessed with the necessary wherewithal to grow palm oil plants with huge yields that can beat any other oil crops on earth. If palm oil is the cheapest triglyceride material available to day thanks are due to the hard working and innovative palm oil plantation workers and the efficiency of the organized processing plants there. Attempts were made to cast doubt on the nutritional aspect of this oil as it contains a high proportion of saturated triglycerides, perceived to be responsible for atherosclerosis and related diseases. Of course this ploy did not work as scientifically such claims have been disproved. Then came the effort to tarnish its image by indicting it for adverse climate changes caused by deforestation for expanding the area of cultivation. Probably the palm oil industry may face more hurdles in future from oil lobbies dedicated to promoting and protecting the interests of soybean, corn and rape seed for which it has to be prepared. Palm oil producers appear to be aware of the challenges ahead and can be depended on defending their turf.,

"Are we ready for a Malaysia without oil palm? That sounds far-fetched and overly dramatic, doesn't it? For that to happen, plantation companies and smallholders would have to stop cultivating the crop because it's no longer worthwhile doing so. What are the chances of that happening? Exceedingly slim at the moment, but the domestic plantation industry now has to acknowledge that perhaps more than ever, it's getting harder to cling to the status quo. There are several forces at work here. The option of developing new estates in Malaysia, particularly in the peninsula, is fast fading. So there's the limitation of land scarcity, coupled with the slow rise in yields".

It is good that a country like Malaysia knows about the hostile environment ahead and must be taking action to protect its interests. But there are no two opinions that a country like Malaysia has shown the world what can be achieved by dedicated efforts and world can still survive with out oils from soy, corn or rapeseed. In any new strategy to increase palm oil production, Malaysia must establish cooperative ventures with some of the countries having plenty of land to spare for cultivating oil palm, sharing its technological prowess and maintain the edge palm oil has over others in the global market.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

HALTING DEFORESTATION-THE INCENTIVE SCHEME

Relentless pursuit of money and ever expanding markets for food grains in a world with fast growing population, forests become the first casualty as more fertile lands are being sought to plant edible crops. During the past 11000 years since organized agriculture started in this planet, more than 50% of the area under the forests has been lost. Between 1990 and 2000 over 94 million hectares of forests disappeared due to human activity and many believe that in another 20 years 40% of the existing forests also will be lost unless pragmatic efforts are made to check this mindless juggernaut. Brazil, which has the enviable record of being the fastest destroyer of forests for taking up soy and corn cultivation, lost in the process about 13 million hectares of forest coverage last year.

Why this alarm about deforestation? "Deforestation, a critical contributor to climate change, effectively accounts for 20 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions and 70 percent of the emissions in Brazil. Halting new deforestation, experts say, is as powerful a way to combat warming as closing the world's coal plants.But until now, there has been no financial reward for keeping forest standing. Which is why a growing number of scientists, politicians and environmentalists argue that cash payments — like that offered to Mr. Marcolini — are the only way to end tropical forest destruction and provide a game-changing strategy in efforts to limit global warming". An NGO in Brazil is offering $12 per hectare of forests not destroyed to the farmers but the economic calculations do not seem to have convinced the farmers so far about desisting from deforestation.

Is there any lesson learned from the Brazilian experience? No matter what policy measures are taken to preempt deforestation through coercive action, only economic incentives can be effective in the long run. It is not for nothing that rich countries are thinking in terms of providing economic aid to poor countries of the world to desist from cutting down forests which are considered a global resource for controlling green house gases in the environment. It should be the aim of national governments to bring down the CO2 levels in their countries through such interventions for the sake of survival of this planet.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com