By Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir – August 19, 2020 @ 12:08am

PALM oil is widely used in food products due to its superior health benefits and versatility — from cooking oil to margarine, bakery fats, chocolates, confectioneries, ice cream, dairy substitutes and food supplements.

To ensure a healthy lifestyle, one must adopt a balanced diet to keep our body active and healthy.

Fat intakes at the right quantity and quality are essential for our daily dietary consumption as they provide energy, essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins, as well as impart the desired taste to our food.

Oil palm is not a genetically modified organism. Palm oil, which is extracted from the mesocarp of the oil palm fruit, is a balanced vegetable oil, free from cholesterol and trans-fatty acids.

It is one of the richest sources of phytonutrients, such as pro-Vitamin A carotenoids and Vitamin E.

Carotenoids are important in addressing Vitamin A deficiency issues, as well as improve eye health, the immune system and boosting mental functions, particularly in children.

Red palm oil is an excellent source of carotenoids and other phytonutrients.

Refined palm oil contains up to 500 parts per million (ppm) of Vitamin E — namely tocotrienols (70 per cent) and tocopherols (30 per cent). Both antioxidants can neutralise free radicals, which are unstable molecules that are linked to many health issues, including cancer.

Free radicals can also cause chronic  inflammation and premature skin ageing.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)’s research and collaborations with local and overseas institutions have scientifically proven that palm-derived Vitamin E tocotrienols are important for human health as they can prevent many non-communicable diseases.

Through the continuous and dedicated research conducted by MPOB, the health benefits of palm oil and its phyto-nutrients are being explored extensively.

It was revealed that palm-derived Vitamin E tocotrienols could curb stroke.

Following the outcome, several studies have gone underway to evaluate palm-derived Vitamin E supplements’ impact on renal, liver and heart health.

Exploring the potentials of tocotrienols in protecting the brain against neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, which are linked to free radical damage, has become an interest among researchers.

Tocotrienols can reduce inflammation and free radical damage that can weaken the heart.

Additionally, a study has found that it can also reduce cardiovascular health risk, including the impact of high cholesterol on the heart.

Palm-derived tocotrienols possess anti-cancer properties as they have been observed fighting free radicals and slowing the growth of breast, prostate and pancreas cancer cells.

Most cosmetic and skincare product manufacturers have been using palm-derived tocotrienols in their formulations for cosmetic applications.

With powerful antioxidant properties, tocotrienols may help reverse skin damage due to free radicals, prevent wrinkles and help the skin appear youthful. 

Tocotrienols may also protect the skin against the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays.

At the forefront of research
on palm oil and its phytonutrients, MPOB continues its research to produce scientific evidence on the health benefits of palm oil.

The writer is the director-general of Malaysian Palm Oil Board

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18):Malaysia’s palm oil producers are embarking on a rare recruitment drive to hire locals and accelerating industry mechanisation as they grapple with a severe shortage of foreign labour due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As the September-November peak production season approaches, companies are erecting banners near plantations and posting online job advertisements boasting free housing, free water and other perks of estate life in a bid to lure workers to do everything from driving tractors to harvesting.

Already, travel and movement restrictions have left the world’s second-largest palm oil producer grappling with a shortage of 37,000 workers, nearly 10% of the total workforce. The Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) believes this could blow out to 70,000 workers once borders reopen.Sponsored Content

“This is the first time we are making such a big effort to hire Malaysians, but it is also the first time we are facing COVID-19,” Imran, an estate manager with Sime Darby Plantation, told Reuters after interviewing potential applicants at a recruitment day near Kuala Lumpur.

The industry fears the labour crunch will hurt palm oil production this year by delaying the harvest of perishable fruit, giving an edge to bigger rival Indonesia which has no such labour problems.

Malaysia’s average cost of production is already slightly higher at about $406-$480 a tonne, according to analysts, compared with Indonesia at $400-$450 a tonne.

Countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh provide nearly 85% of plantation workers for palm companies such as Sime Darby, IOI Corp and United Plantations.

While employing more Malaysians could save on recruitment fees and levies needed to fly in foreign workers, planters worry that local workers, who typically shun plantation work as dirty and dangerous, won’t commit to the industry or take on the most difficult jobs.

“It’s possible that recruiting more locals could bring down the cost of production, but provided these locals are also as productive as them (migrant workers),” said MPOA chief executive Nageeb Wahab. “That is a big question mark.”

Despite a rising unemployment rate, Imran said most of the interest at the recruitment day was for general duties, such as driver or mechanic, rather than the taxing and crucial task of harvesting.

With more foreign workers leaving, some severely understaffed smaller firms, which are less able to retain migrant labour, have resorted to poaching workers from competitors.

“It is bad, but I need to do this to survive,” said an official of a mid-sized estate in Sarawak who declined to be named.

ADVANCING MECHANISATION

The labour shortfall is adding urgency to long-standing plans for industry mechanisation.

Sime, the world’s biggest palm oil company by land size, told Reuters it is quickening development and trials to deploy “light machines” that will aid in field upkeep, removing harvested crops and applying fertiliser.

It’s also turning to remote sensing and artificial intelligence to drive “precision farming”, making the most efficient use of farm inputs and field workers.

IOI said it has a “revitalised mechanisation plan”, and aims to mechanise fertilising and pesticide spraying as well as automating mill operations, while FGV Holdings plans to mechanise an extra 30,000 hectares over the next three years.

Malaysia on average allots one worker for every 8 hectares, but the MPOA wants a “quantum leap” in technology that would double the land area for each worker to 16 hectares. This would reduce reliance on labour, which accounts for around 30% of production costs.

“Imagine inventing a drone that can fly under the canopy of palm trees, with a scanner to detect ripe fruit bunches and a laser attached to cut the bunch,” said M.R. Chandran, a veteran industry official turned consultant.

“By totally modernising plantations with drones, artificial intelligence and robotics, we can also make plantation work more attractive for locals.”