Chapter 10 – Oil Palm

Due to rapid increase in the world population and demand for dietary oils coupled with the biofuel movement, oil palm cultivation will continue to expand in order to meet increasing global demands for vegetable oils. Rapid expansion of the industry based in tropical Asia, Africa, and America presents many opportunities. Enhancing oil palm production by increasing the availability of cultivated land has limited options. An alternative is to increase productivity per unit land area by breeding and generating superior individuals with improved productivity and stability. Morphological and agronomic features cannot be exclusively relied upon for sustainable production. Hence, the need for sustainable multivariate traditional and modern breeding approaches that take into account the welfare and contribution of stakeholders and innovative developments in crop production/protection concepts. Prospection and germplasm collection of oil palms are essential to conserving genetic resources, broadening the genetic base of breeding material toward raising yields, improving oil quality, and tackling future challenges facing the industry. The integration of traditional breeding approaches with modern techniques like micropropagation, genomics, and genetic engineering as well as benchmarking from success stories constitute the best approach toward sustainable production.