KUCHING: Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Sarawak palm oil industry has been able to achieve 94 percent Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil Certification (MPSO).
In its press release on Monday (Nov 30), Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (Soppoa) said it had been at the forefront in its commitment towards sustainability agenda by strongly upholding the value of `No Deforestation, No new Peat plantings and No exploitation of its employees’ (NDPE)
“We support the government’s policy on sustainable oil palm development which has attained 62 entities of Supply Chain Certification Standards or SCCS.
“This is a clear indication of our full commitment to protect humanity and the environment in sustainable business undertakings by always advising our members to be duly practising at all times,” it said.
Soppoa generated an income of RM8.9 billion last year from its total production of 4.24 million metric tonnes of crude palm oil despite the global economic downturn.
“Oil palm plantations in Sarawak produce 4.24 million metric tonnes of crude palm oil and generate an income of RM8.9 billion for year 2019 of which 55.2 percent are returned to the government in the form of taxes and levees over the gross PBIT, a reliable government revenue provider despite global financial and economy crisis over the years.
“The capital outlay and current value of member companies actually run into just over a RM100 billion which covers the upstream, midstream and downstream activities of the industry and which ranks at second place in jobs creation after the government sector,” Soppoa added.
It attributed such achievement to a strong stewardship of the association.
“The constitutional structure of the association comprises a fully elected executive council with strong stewardships starting from Datuk Amar Abdul Hamed Sepawi, chairman of Ta Ann Group of Companies, as its inaugural chairman to current chairman, Tiong Chiong Ong, an executive director of Rimbunan Sawit, one of the largest oil palm companies in Sarawak.
“The council is run by a secretariat team and a professional chief executive officer with sound knowledge of the plantation industry.
“Our secretariat is also technically supported by five heads of committees overseeing government affairs, human resources, research and development, sustainability and media communication and two senior advisors and a chartered accountant consultant firm,” it added.
The setback posed by the pandemic, Soppoa said, had limited the operations production until the plantation sector was recognised as essential service, which had enabled the industry to bounce back.
“The biggest challenges today are the setbacks posed by the current pandemic and the economic meltdown that follows, has limited operations and normal production.
“The plantation sector, being an essential service, still continues to operate to keep the country secure and stable by supplying the much-needed food and non-food products derived from palm oil for the nation as well as exports and plays a vital role in continuing to provide much-needed plantation jobs.
“We appreciate and would like to extend gratitude to the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and MKN for allowing the plantations to continue operations with conditions,” it added.
The association said it had imposed strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines in addition to the SOPs set by the government.
“The move to self-lock down with strict in-house SOPs apart from the government SOPs had played an important role to prevent the Covid-19 virus spread and its proven effective so far.
“In times of need and national service, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR), the association also took the initiative to raise RM530,000 for the SDMC to assist prevention measures and help the poor and needy through the generosity of its members,” it said.
