KUCHING: The Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (Soppoa) says the proposed European Union (EU) Act is nothing more than a bullying tactic against palm oil export to EU markets and supports calls for it to be retracted.
The petition for the EU Act to be retracted was handed to the head of EU delegation to Malaysia by a group of palm oil smallholders in Malaysia, recently.
The group, representing Felcra, Felda and National Association of Smallholders, had also staged a protest against the proposal as the Act which would restrict usage of palm-biofuel is both discriminatory and unjustified environmental regulations.
The group has also questioned the motive behind the proposed EU Act, saying: “Is EU acting with white supremacy and trying to oppress the poor Asian countries on deforestation?”
Soppoa in a media statement yesterday said if the EU was so concerned about environmental sustainability, then they should be equally responsible by planting forest back in their countries.
“They have cleared almost all of their natural forests and used them for cattle and other oil seeds cultivations which are even more unsustainable than oil palm cultivation,” it added.
Soppoa said it believed the proposed Act was a discriminatory move to prevent palm oil from competing with their low yield productions of rapeseed, soya beans and sunflower cultivation.
Based on the proposed EU Act, their agricultural activities like cattle farming and beans cultivations are classified as low risk while oil palm cultivation is considered high risk when oil palm is at least four times more productive than other oil seeds.
“This is nothing more than a bullying tactic and pure discrimination on the part of the EU; the scientific data clearly points to the superiority of palm oil to all other oil seed cultivations and Malaysian palm oil is moving towards sustainability certification by end of 2019,” Soppoa added.
