La palma de aceite en Malasia : políticas y prioridades de investigación y desarrollo

Malaysia continues to contribute significantly In the area of oils and fats. From 2.62 million ha, Malaysia produced 8.39, 1.11, 1.38 and 0.89 million tones and exported 7.21, 0.47, 0.99 and 0.54 million tons of palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake and oleochemicals respectively, in 1996. The production volume of palm oil was equivalent to 52% of the world's production while the export constituted 67% of world palm oil trade. In terms of world's traded oils and fats, Malaysian palm oil contributed significantly at 25% of the market. The total export earning of these products was RM 11.51 billion (US$4.61 billion] with GDP equivalent of 6%. The achievement was nurtured for more than three decades through various government plans and policies such as agricultural diversification policy, land development policy and other socio-economic policies. These policies were then superseded with new policies or plans such as New Economic Policy, National Agriculture Policy, Industrial Technology Policy, Industrial Master Plan, Second Outline Perspective Plan, Vision 2020 and lately the IT policy leading to the establishment of MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor). These government policies in turn guide the oil palm industry and relevant government agencies to formulated and develop the strategic research and development (R&D) policies and plans. Well defined R&D policies and strategic plans would lead to the setting up of appropriate R&D priorities which could meet the requirements of the clients, especially the oil palm industry, palm oil consumers and the government. The oil palm industry wants to ensure its sustainable profitability through, amongst others, R&D which would yield cost-effective and competitive technologies. R&D policies and priorities were set according to the requirements of different eras: pioneering era (1910 to 1950's), expansion era (1960-1980's), transformation era (1990's) and competitive era (2000 onwards]. The immediate plan is to bring the oil palm industry into the next millennium. This means that the strategic R&D policies must be able to transform the oil palm industry to be in line with Vision 2020. The industry needs to have high income generating capacity from the plantations, downstream value added capacity and zero-waste by balanced utilization of biomass and other byproducts to the industry without affecting the environment. The above policies would lead to the priorization of the R&D activities. The priorities would include improving plantation production efficiency, increasing income generating activities, improving quality of oil palm and its products, widening the area of application, increasing efficiency of various processes, improving the economics of the industry (upstream, downstream, marketing and new technologies], enhancing, consumer acceptance, increasing utilization of palm oil products in consuming countries, developing new markets, and commercialization of R&D findings. The successful implementation of these policies and priorities is partly measured by the commercial utilization of R&D results and technologies. The R&D must, therefore nurture innovation and invention, promote new improved technologies, build new-enabling or platform technologies, enhance diffusion of technology, and sensitive to key emerging technologies. The R&D must also forge linkages with appropriate partners to acquire or to transfer new specialized technologies that can promise high economic returns.