SURESAWIT SEED TESTING CAN GENERATE RM4.3 BLN ECONOMIC OUTPUT ACROSS OIL PALM SECTOR - ZURAIDA

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- The SureSawit oil palm seed testing service, which can be used as a mechanism for seed certification by smallholdings and oil palm plantations, is able to generate up to RM4.3 billion in additional economic output annually across the industry.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said this would translate into a substantial increase in profits for oil palm players, and importantly, further improving the sustainability of the Malaysian palm oil industry.

“Today, we witnessed a high technology Malaysian-based company that developed an innovative oil palm seed certification process using a cutting-edge DNA testing technology which ensures that only DxP seeds which pass stringent quality specifications are supplied to the oil palm industry.

“Using SureSawit as a mechanism for seed certification, smallholdings, oil palm estates and plantations are expected to increase their income by producing more fresh fruit bunches (FFB), while palm oil mills will increase their production with a higher oil extraction rate (OER),” she said during the official launch of SureSawit at Orion Biosains Sdn Bhd's testing laboratory in Puchong, near here, today.

The launch was jointly announced by Orion Biosains and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), based on the latter's ground-breaking SHELL gene technology.

MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said that the agency has conducted extensive research decoding and analysing the oil palm genome, since 2004, which laid the groundwork for the discoveries underpinning SureSawit services.

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“SureSawit offers a DNA-based screening methodology to the oil palm industry that is widely used not only in Malaysia but throughout the world. The discovery of the SHELL gene enables the identification of low-yielding palms at the seed or nursery stage long before they are field planted," he said.

Meanwhile, Orion Biosains in a statement said SureSawit™ Oil Palm Seed Testing Services represent a game changer in improving the replanting supply chain for the oil palm industry.

Utilised at the earliest stage of the seed production process, the testing enables batch-by-batch DNA certification of high-performing and ultra-high purity DxP tenera seeds.

The novel certification process enables oil palm seed producers to screen seed bunches to identify and market only the highest purity DxP bunches and to eliminate low-performing bunches which have high dura contamination from the replanting supply chain.

To date, more than one million tests have been conducted at Orion Biosains’ MS ISO/IEC 17025-certified laboratory.

"We are proud to be part of the precision agriculture practices, thus enhancing Malaysia’s national competitiveness in gearing up for sustainable palm oil production," the company said.

-- BERNAMA