New Delhi - A better replanting rate of older oil palm areas can increase Malaysia's annual palm oil output by 2.5 million tonnes, Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said.

He has raised concern about the low rate of replanting by independent smallholders, who number about 450,000 and have 1.5 million hectares under cultivation.

"Our replanting has dropped significantly. Based on industry standards, we should replant 4-5 per cent, but our national average is only about 1.8 per cent," he told reporters here.

Increasing the replanting rate to industry standards will add more than 2.5 million tonnes to the total palm oil production, he said.

As Malaysia follows sustainable palm oil standards, it will not open up new areas for plantations and will instead focus on higher yield on the current harvested area of 5.7 million hectares, said Johari.

Malaysia's forest cover, which is 54 per cent at present, cannot drop below 50 per cent as part of the country's climate commitments.

Johari said Malaysia was working on a number of initiatives such as greater focus on research and development, more replanting and consolidation of smallholdings to grow output.

Malaysia produced 18.6 million tonnes of palm oil in 2023 compared with about 20 million tonnes a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Malaysia and India discussed ways to increase cooperation in the palm oil sector.

Johari and Indian Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met on Thursday to explore opportunities in the agriculture field, including collaboration on the Indian initiative known as "the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm".

Under the scheme launched in 2021, India aims to expand its oil palm cultivation area manifold as part of its efforts to reduce dependence on imported edible oil.

"In this endeavour, Malaysia can provide expertise in improving crop yields, converting underutilised land into productive oil palm plantations, and nurturing the growth of oil palm cultivation," Johari earlier told an industry conference.

Source: New Straits Times