SMALL-TIME oil palm planters are reluctant to stop depending solely on the cash crop despite proposals for them to grow alternative crops following the plunge in commodity prices and a rampant anti-palm oil campaign in Europe.

They are wary about arguments that they should grow alternative crops or plant supplementary plants such as bamboo, pineapples and coconuts.

These were proposals by the government to smallholders – who grow about 40% of the oil palm crop in the country – to tackle inconsistent world prices for the edible oil that has been caused by increased competition from Indonesia and a growing movement in Europe to buy less oil palm products.

At the same time, the cabinet is also considering a proposal to cap the maximum area for oil palm plantations to combat accusations that the crop drives deforestation.

Smallholders told The Malaysian Insight that while they want the government to help them to overcome the drop in prices, they are not keen to ditch oil palm altogether.

Smallholder Samsudin Mokhtar said the government’s suggestions appear to be rushed, and not easy to be implemented.

“What am I to do with bamboos? What is my family to survive on? We don’t even know how the market for bamboo is.

“How much do they fetch? How much would it cost me to plant bamboos, and maintain them as a crop?” the father of two told The Malaysian Insight.

The 58-year-old is already rearing 10 cows to supplement his income from oil palm.

Another smallholder, Ali Abu Bakar, said they need guidance on how to shift to alternative crops which can be commercially successful.

“We do not have any technical know-how on planting other crops. Even things like bamboo, they have been around for a long time but for us that will be a new experience.

“With oil palm, we know the market, whom to sell too, and which government agency to go for guidance,” said the owner of a five-acre oil palm plantation.

The 35 year-old had also just replanted his small estate and the new oil palm trees will start yielding fruits in December.

Oil palm well established

Last week, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok had suggested bamboo, coconuts and pineapple as crops that smallholders can grow to supplement their income from oil palm.

Kok’s statement had followed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s own proposal for farmers to diversify their crops.

National Association of Smallholders (NASH) president Aliasak Ambia, however, said it would be difficult to shift to alternative crops.

According to Aliasak, there are about 65,000 smallholders in the country who are planting palm oil and rubber, and getting them all to start planting other crops would not be easy.

“Not easy to just change the crops. Oil palm is well established. We have policies, allocations, technology about this crop. We don’t have similar things for other suggested crops,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He, however, agreed with the plan for smallholders to plant supplementary crops.

“Bamboo or pineapple can bring in extra income for the farmer when they are planted alongside oil palm,” he said.

He added that the government should do more to help overcome the drop in palm oil prices.

“There must be better marketing, new technologies. Smallholders must be aware of what the government is doing to ensure that the palm oil market is strong,” he said.

He said that when the government introduced oil palm and rubber to smallholders in the 1970s, they were given seeds and guidance to start their plantations.

He added at that time, almost 45% of smallholders were poor. Now only about 2% of them are poor. – March 9, 2019.