Oil Palm Plantation: Meeting Demands and Challenges 1

The paper explores the production, demand and challenges of the oil palm crop to provide sustainably food from palm oil and potential renewable energy from biomass for local and export markets. This new twin strategy addresses the simultaneous concerns for food and energy production to be green on one hand, by reducing the impacts on food distance travelled, CO2 emitted, waste utilised and renewable energy generated; and sustainable on the other hand, by enhancing development of environmental integrity, economic profitability and social equity. Important aspects of greenness and sustainability over the whole supply chain are examined and assessed holistically to ensure that both food and bio-energy production can reduce food miles through livestock and crop integration, utilise waste by recycling as nutrient substitute, slow climate change by delivering real greenhouse gas (GHG) savings, and meet sustainability criteria. A legislative framework to promote security of food and renewable energy is needed to provide the industry and business community with long-term stability and be on track towards a cleaner, more secure and more competitive future. Supporting evidence on such quantification be communicated through eco-labels reporting either a single or multiple attributes or focusing on a single phase or a full life cycle of the products. The Malaysian oil palm industry’s response to meet the demands and challenges posed by exploiting the synergy between food and bio-energy production is to gain considerable improvement through i) Crop breeding and biotechnology to address yield increase ii) Avoidance of food versus fuel issue by utilising the large unexploited biomass to meet the demands of the EU Biofuel Directive iii) R&D into second-generation feedstock and conversion technologies of biomass iv) Mitigating climate change through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol (KP)’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and International Emission Trading (IET) to obtain carbon credits from net carbon balance v) Sustainability certification with Certificate of Assurance (COA), Code of practices (CoP) and Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to enhance soil quality and fertility, biodiversity and hydrological protection vi) Diversify into crop and livestock integration to increase land productivity and cut down food miles and vii) Policy needs to provide incentives for delivering low GHG food and biofuels under wider environmental, social and economic benefits.