KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — The Netherlands is convinced of the importance of palm oil and sees a bright future for the industry in Malaysia.

The Netherlands Ambassador to Malaysia Aart Jacobi said that he is unperturbed about the talks of measures against palm oil by the European Union (EU).

"We all know that oil palm per square metre or per acre has a yield that’s eight times larger than (that of) other oils that we know of. And as such, it is indispensable for a world population that will grow over the next 10 to 20 years.

"There are ongoing negotiations and talks on EU measures on palm oil but that is only short term.

"For the long term, I think there is a great future in palm oil,” he told Bernama after witnessing the signing ceremony of a letter of intent between Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) director-general Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir and Embassy of the Netherlands Deputy Head of Mission Christoph Prommersberger on behalf of the Netherlands in Parliament, here today.

Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, who jointly witnessed the signing ceremony, said that the implementation of the National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NI-SCOPS) programme is aimed at improving productivity, sustainability, and livelihood of oil palm smallholders in seven sites in the country.

She said the programme will also develop a monitoring system supporting a deforestation-free palm oil independently, improve the adaptive capacity of smallholders in the light of climate change in the seven sites and contribute to the revision of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standard for smallholders.

The Sub-Committee on Oil Palm (SCOP) is a government to government platform to discuss collaboration of the NI-SCOPS.

Kok said that the Solidaridad Network and the Sustainable Trade Initiative are the implementing partners on behalf of the Netherlands, and the funding programme will be implemented by implementing partners for the latter.

The MPOB is the principle responsible partner on behalf of the Malaysian government under the Ministry of Primary Industries, of which the implementing partners are the Forest Research Institute Malaysia and the Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council.

Through the NI-SCOPS programme, Malaysia will receive a funding of RM25 million from the Netherlands government for the next three years. — Bernama