KOTA KINABALU, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- A total of 209,033 oil palm smallholders nationwide, covering 747,012 hectares of plantations, have obtained Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification as of Aug 31.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said that of the total, 29,918 are smallholders in Sabah, covering an area of 184,564 hectares.
“The MADANI Government has allocated more than RM2 million in the Pitas district, Sabah, to strengthen smallholders’ participation in the sustainable palm oil value chain,” it said in a statement today.
It added that at the MSPO strengthening programme in the Pitas district yesterday (Sept 8), Deputy Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin presented a cheque of RM713,322 to eight recipients under the Oil Palm Smallholder Replanting Financing Incentive Scheme (TSPKS) 2.0, covering a replanting area of 39.63 hectares.
TSPKS 2.0 is a matching grant scheme provided by the government through MPOB, specifically for smallholders with planting areas of less than 10 hectares.
“To date, a total of 707 applications for the incentive scheme, covering an area of 3,034.20 hectares, have been approved for Sabah,” the MPOB said.
It added that it will continue providing support services and guidance on sustainable palm oil certification to private smallholders nationwide through the MPOB TUNAS offices.
To ensure the active participation of oil palm smallholders in the mainstream agri-commodity sector, MPOB has established 49 TUNAS branches nationwide, supported by approximately 190 TUNAS officers.
“The MPOB TUNAS offices also provide guidance on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), as well as assistance in replanting old and unproductive palm oil trees,” it said.
MPOB also clarified that the postponement of the enforcement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) until the end of December 2025 provides the Malaysian palm oil industry with additional time to strengthen compliance with the country’s sustainability certification standards for the EU palm oil market.
-- BERNAMA
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