Cabaran yang dihadapi oleh pekebun kecil

Tidak seperti yang diimpikan, banyak cabaran yang dihadapi oleh pekebun kecil kelapa sawit masa masa sekarang. Saya telah menanam 1,000 pokok pada tahun 2008.

Dengan modal sebanyak lebih kurang RM50,000 saya telah berjaya menanam pokok sawit yang sederhana pertumbuhannya sehingga menghasilkan buah pada tahun 2011.

Dibawah adalah masalah yang dihadapi;
1. Harga input yang mahal eg baja hasil jualan tidak dapat menampung kos pembajaan kerana harga sawit hanya RM400 se tan
2. Tenaga buruh yang semakin meningkat
3. Tiada bantuan atau soft loan yang dapat membantu kerana bank memberi syarat yang terlalu ketat
4. Kebanyakkan tanah di Sarawak adalah NCR dimana tidak ada geran tanah untuk dicagarkan

Palm oil drop to one-week low

Palm declined to the lowest level in a week on concern that the advancing soybean harvest in Brazil will boost oilseed supplies, depressing demand for the tropical oil. Futures in Dalian fell to the lowest since 2010.

The contract for May delivery lost 0.5 per cent to end at RM2,399 a metric tonne on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, the lowest most-active price at close since March 6. Futures have lost 29 per cent in the past year as supplies outpaced demand.

About 48 per cent of Brazil’s soybean crop was harvested as of March 8, compared with 46 per cent a year earlier, according to researcher Safras & Mercado. The country is set to overtake the US this year as the top exporter of the beans that can be crushed to make soybean oil.

"Supplies will be ample in the market for both soybeans and palm oil" from May onwards, Chandran Sinnasamy, head of trading at LT International Futures Sdn Bhd, said by phone from Kuala Lumpur. "High stock levels in China" are also a concern.

Stockpiles of imported palm oil at ports tracked by Grain.gov.cn climbed to a record 1.28 million tonnes, up 70,000 tonnes from a week earlier, the state-owned researcher said March 8. Exports from Malaysia, the second-largest producer, fell 14 per cent to 1.4 million tonnes in February for a fourth monthly drop, according to the nation’s palm oil board.

Refined palm oil for delivery in September dropped 2.6 per cent to end at 6,340 yuan (US$1,020) a tonne on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the lowest price at close for the most-active contract since July 2010. Soybean oil for delivery in the same month declined 1.4 per cent to end at 8,042 yuan a tonne.

About 10.5 million tonnes of soybeans and products made from the oilseed are scheduled for shipment on vessels berthed, arrived or expected at major ports in Brazil as of March 12, up from 10.27 million tonnes a week earlier, SA Commodities and Unimar Agenciamentos Maritimos said yesterday.

Soybean oil for May delivery declined 0.5 per cent to 49.72 cents a pound on the Chicago Board of Trade. Soybeans for May delivery retreated 0.4 per cent to US$14.635 a bushel. Soybean oil was about 1.42 times costlier than palm.-- Bloomberg



Read more: Palm oil drops to one-week low http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130313184006/Article/index_html#ixzz2NcKd867t

MPOB expects CPO production to increase to 19 million tonnes this year

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) expects Crude Palm Oil (CPO) production to increase to 18.9 million tonnes for this year from 18.79 million tonnes last year.

MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May said the board was expecting Malaysia’s CPO price to be firm in 2013 due to increasing demand from major importing countries.

“We are expecting a recovery in fresh fruit bunches (FFB) yield coupled with an increase in new mature areas will likely to boost the production,” she said during her presentation on performance of the Malaysian palm oil industry in 2012 and prospects for 2013.

She said the restructuring of Malaysian CPO export tax would raise Malaysian competitiveness in the palm oil downstream sector.

MPOB head of trade development unit N. Balu said Malaysia was hoping to conclude a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Turkey by the end of this year to reduce import tariffs on selected palm oil products.

“Turkey has been identified as the gateway to European market and the FTA will play a vital role for Malaysia’s palm products to enter that market,” he told reporters after presenting his paper on FTA update and prospects for palm products at the palm oil economic review and outlook seminar here yesterday.

“The current tariffs impose on selected palm oil products entering the Turkey market average 31.2%, and through the FTA, we are trying to reduce as much as possible,” he said.

He told StarBiz two FTAs were still under negotiations - between Malaysia and European Union (EU) and the Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP).

“Malaysian palm oil exporters would benefit from FTA through preferential treatment and market access. Exporters would also enjoy cost savings from elimination or reduction of import tariffs in partner country and from mutual recognition agreements, trade facilitating Customs procedures and removal of stringent regulations,” he said.

Malaysia has been involved in the successful completion of six six bilateral and six regional FTAs.

The bilateral FTAs signed are those with Japan, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Chile and Australia repectively.

He said that Malaysia is also party to Asean Free Trade Agreement, Asean-Japan Close Economic Partnership Agreement, Asean Korea Free Trade Agreement, Asean-China Free Trade Agreement, Asean–Australia and New Zealand Free Trade.

“Most of the concluded FTAs have thus far resulted in yielding comparative advantage to the Malaysian palm oil industry, particularly in increased export volume of palm products,” he said. He also said FTAs play a significant role to Malaysia as exports of Malaysian palm products to India has shown a significant increase after a FTA.
The Star

Countering Prejudices Against Palm Oil

WESTERN lobby groups have been running down the palm oil industry because they view the golden crop’s healthful profile as a formidable threat to their hegemony in producing and marketing their own soy, rapeseed and corn oils.

In their smear campaigns, these groups have even claimed oil palm cultivation destroys rainforests and their wildlife habitats and also lays to waste large swathes of otherwise productive agricultural land.

However, studies show oil palm is one of the most productive of all the oilseed crops with an enviable yield of more than 4.5 metric tons per hectare as against the miniscule 0.5 metric tons yield typical of its competitors such as soy, rapeseed and sunflower.

Such high productivity means less land is required for oil palm to produce the same amount of oil as the competing oil seeds. The oil palm tree is also sturdy, remaining productive for 20 to 30 years and harvestable annually without replanting whereas the other oil crops have to be replanted annually.

In Malaysia, an oil palm plantation — because it is highly productive — can be established on legitimate agricultural land without the need to clear forests indiscriminately. That is why Malaysia still has a forest cover close to 70 per cent despite planting oil palm for more than a century and being hitherto the world’s largest palm oil producer.

In stark contrast, the industrial west from where the self-styled paragons of conservation originate can hardly claim 20 per cent forest cover.

World Growth, a non-profit NGO, agrees that palm oil is highly sustainable in developing economies. Only 0.26 hectare of land is required to produce a tonne of palm oil whereas soybean, sunflower and rapeseed need 2.2 hectares, two hectares and 1.5 hectares, respectively, to produce the same quantity of oil.

What this means is that soybean requires eight times more land to produce the same quantity of oil compared to palm oil.

Oil palm cultivation has also been blamed for the imminent extinction of the orangutan but such finger-pointing is as spiteful and as it is illogical since the primates’ population in the wild in Borneo alone is estimated between 45,000 and 69,000.

So how is it possible, even remotely, for the orangutan to become extinct within the next three or four years as claimed. The numbers just don’t add up, especially with on-going efforts to protect the big apes in conservation enclaves set up in both Malaysia and Indonesia.

The lobbyists have stooped to the chicanery of making ludicrous claims to advance their agenda but people are no longer easily fooled by their ulterior motives.

In a recent development regarding palm oil, the French Senate threw out a budget containing a proposal to increase tax on the commodity.

The reason for the rejection was that the proposal not only had no scientific basis but also contained an “inflammatory and baseless” tax on palm oil — up by 300 per cent from around 100 British pounds (RM397) to 400 British pounds (RM1,587).

Shorn of its selective perception, the proposal is tantamount to an unwarranted and unjustified attack against hundreds of thousands of small farmers across our country. Its rejection is, thus, wholly justified.

The French senator, Yves Daudigny, who tabled the proposal, claimed palm oil was “most rich in saturated fats and its harmful effect on health has already been established.”

Such frivolity does not stand up to well-founded research showing that palm oil, being a vegetable oil, is actually cholesterol-free
and good for heart health as it is rich in heart-friendly anti-oxidants.

The French senator is also ignorant of a proven fact — that the bulk of saturated fats consumed in France comes from animal sources such as meat, milk, cheese and butter – NOT palm oil. In fact, consumption of fats from animal sources amounts to 34.4 kg a year while palm oil consumption per capita in France is only 2kg.

Despite the scientifc proofs and solid stats, the lobby groups continue to discredit palm oil. Is it about the environment or plain economic jealousy? Obviously, the latter.

The upside is the opportunity presented for Malaysia and France to work together in returning to a science-based discussion and countering public perception of palm oil, currently based on hyperbole instead of truth.

We should look forward to working with those of our enlightened overseas partners — through a government-sponsored joint task force — to check the lies being spread about palm oil.

And hopefully, the proposed inflammatory tax on the commodity will be consigned to the dross of history. The Borneo Post

Baja MPOB F4 Sesuai Untuk Berbukit

KEADAAN bentuk muka bumi di Malaysia yang berbukit bukau di samping mempunyai pelbagai jenis tanah bermasalah dengan kadar hujan tidak menentu menjadikan hasil sawit yang ditanam di kawasan berkenaan juga berkurangan.

Ketidaksuburan tanah berkenaan adalah disebabkan oleh kandungan nutriennya yang rendah, manakala penggunaan baja kimia yang digunakan sebelum ini membabitkan kos yang tinggi.

Dalam menghadapi masalah ketidaksuburan itu, keperluan menghasilkan baja yang bersesuaian adalah sangat penting dan hasil kajian penyelidik Lembaga Minyak Sawit Malaysia (MPOB) mendapati bahawa baja yang mengandungi nutrien tinggi adalah langkah yang perlu diambil.

Sehubungan itu, MPOB menjalankan satu formulasi dengan menghasilkan baja MPOB F4 iaitu baja campuran organik yang terbukti berkesan terutama dalam aktiviti penanaman kelapa sawit.

Keberkesanan MPOB F4 adalah berasaskan kepada keputusan percubaan penggunaan baja kelapa sawit MPOB yang diselia oleh MPOB selama lima tahun serta kajian insentif berhubung keperluan nutrien kelapa sawit yang tepat selama 20 tahun.

Baja MPOB F4 dihasilkan dengan formulasi 9-618-2-0.5. Baja ini berupaya memperbaiki struktur tanah berbukit, tanah laterik, tanah liat dan lain-lain.

Ketua Unit Agronomi dan Mekanisasi Ladang, Bahagian Penyelidikan Biologi, MPOB, Ahmad Tarmizi Mohammed berkata, sebelum ini MPOB menghasilkan baja F1, F2 dan F3 iaitu baja yang mempunyai campuran kimia.

“Uniknya baja F4 ialah kita menggunakan campuran organik dan kimia bertujuan untuk membantu mengatasi masalah tanah kurang subur seperti tanah bukit.

“Penghasilan baja ini turut menggunakan bahan zeolite yang berupaya mengawal pelepasan nutrien seiring dengan keperluan pokok kelapa sawit.

“Dengan zeolite juga, pengambilan Nitrogen (N) akan meningkat dan pemeruapan Nitrogen (N) ke udara akan berkurangan berikutan perubahan cuaca dan ini sekali gus dapat mengawal kos penanaman pokok kelapa sawit, malah ia mungkin lebih murah,” katanya.

Termizi berkata, baja MPOB F4 berupaya membekalkan nutrien seimbang iaitu selain mengandungi N, P dan K, baja MPOB F4 juga mengandungi magnesium, boron, kalsium, silicon, kuprum, besi, molidenum, zink, sulfur, karbon, oksigen, hidrogen dan klorin.

Baja MPOB F4 berupaya membantu meningkatkan hasil pengeluaran pokok kelapa sawit melalui kesan secara terkawal hasil kombinasi elemen baja MPON F4 dan ia juga berupaya memperbaiki pH tanah serta struktur tanah yang bermasalah.

Menerusi bahan organik serta zeolite yang ditambah dalam MPOB F4 dapat meningkatkan CEC (Cation Exchange Concentration) tanah dan dapat mengelakkan nutrien daripada terperangkap dalam tanah.

Penggunaan baja MPOB F4 juga dapat menyelesaikan tanah yang berbeza-beza di mana organik yang ada di dalamnya berupaya menarik kehadiran cacing tanah serta mikro organisma berfaedah.

Ia sekali gus merendahkan risiko serangan penyakit dan serangga dan kehadiran cacing tanah dapat menyediakan persekitaran yang sesuai untuk kehidupan mikro organisma berfaedah dan membantu mengudarakan tanah sewaktu aktiviti semula jadi.

Dalam mengeluarkan Baja MPOB F4, MPOB menjalankan kerjasama dengan All Cosmos Industries Sdn Bhd dan untuk tujuan itu satu Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) telah dimeterai sempena Persidangan Kebangsaan Biofertilizers 2008 lalu.

Sementara itu, Pengarah Urusan, Syarikat All Cosmos Industries Sdn Bhd, Dato’ Tony Peng berkata, syarikat itu ditubuhkan pada 2001 di Pasir Gudang, Johor dan turut memperoleh kelulusan ISO 9001 itu adalah pengeluar ekslusif baja itu.

“Syarikat ini bermatlamat mempromosikan konsep pertanian hijau di Malaysia dengan mengitar semula bahan buangan dan seterusnya menjadikan bahan berkenaan itu sebagai baja organik.”

“Baja campuran organik ini banyak diperlukan di kawasan berbukit bukau seperti di Pahang, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, dan di Sarawak membabitkan kawasan Bintulu dan Miri,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, dengan penghasilan baja ini dapat membantu pekebun kecil mendapatkan baja yang betul dengan harga yang berpatutan.

Penggunaan baja MPOB F4 dapat mengurangkan perbelanjaan penanam sawit dan sekali gus memberikan pulangan yang lebih kepada mereka.

Dengan baja MPOB F4 juga, penanam sawit bukan saja dapat mengurangkan kos pembajaan sebaliknya berupaya meningkatkan produktiviti hasil buah tandan segar (BTS) kebun mereka.
Berita Harian

palm oil exports slow down as india buys less

KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil shipments from Malaysia increased at a slower pace in the first 20 days of February on fewer purchases by countries in South Asia including India, the biggest buyer, according to an estimate by surveyor Intertek.

Exports climbed 0.6% to 835,612 tonnes from 830,830 tonnes in the same period in January, Intertek said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

The gain was smaller than an 18% advance in both the first 10 days and 15 days of the month.

Shipments to South Asia fell 13% to 180,390 tonnes, compared with the same period in January, Intertek data show.

In January, India imposed a tax of 2.5% on crude palm imports and raised the benchmark price on which the tax is applicable to US$802 a tonne from US$447 to shield domestic growers from cheap overseas supplies.

Malaysia reduced taxes on crude export to zero in January and February to clear stockpiles that reached a record 2.63 million tonnes in December.

Reserves slid 1.9% to 2.58 million tonnes last month and prices in Kuala Lumpur gained 5.3% this year.

“The rise in prices may be deterring buyers from India, they may want to wait for prices to drop,” said Arhnue Tan, an analyst at Alliance Investment Bank Bhd here.

India’s import tax may also have reduced shipments, she said.

Shipments from Malaysia will be taxed at 4.5% in March as the reference price was set at RM2,306.11 a tonne, above the threshold of RM2,250 that triggers the tax.

Palm oil for delivery in May climbed dropped 0.4% to RM2,557 a tonne on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, after rising earlier by as much as 0.7%. — Bloomberg

Palm Oil Gains as Malaysia May Export More Before Tax in March

Palm oil advanced for the first time in four sessions on speculation that Malaysia may boost exports this month before a tax is imposed in March, reducing near record inventories in the world’s second-largest producer.

The contract for delivery in April, the most-active by open interest, climbed as much as 1.5 percent to 2,519 ringgit ($813) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, and ended the morning session at 2,511 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur. Futures declined 3 percent last week to end at 2,483 ringgit, the lowest price at close for most active futures since Jan. 29.

The tax on crude palm oil exports will be 4.5 percent for March after shipments were allowed at zero duty in January and February, according to the Customs Department. That’s less than the 9 percent tax set for this month by Indonesia, the biggest producer and exporter. Shipments from Malaysia climbed 18 percent to 673,555 tons in the first 15 days of February from the same period a month ago, surveyor Intertek said Feb. 15.

“It’s likely that Malaysian exporters may ship out more palm oil to take advantage of the zero percent tax,” said Ker Chung Yang, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte in Singapore.

The rush to export more palm oil this month may help to cut stockpiles, Ivy Ng, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., wrote in a report today. Inventories in Malaysia slid 1.9 percent to 2.58 million tons last month from an all-time high of 2.63 million tons in December, the nation’s palm oil board said Feb. 13.
Refined palm oil for delivery in September lost 0.7 percent to 7,042 yuan ($1,128) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. Soybean oil for delivery in the same month dropped 0.8 percent to 8,646 yuan a ton. Financial markets in China were closed last week for the Lunar New Year festival.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net