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.
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