KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 -- More than 85 per cent of Malaysia’s 5.9 million hectares (ha) of oil palm plantation and about 90 per cent of 452 palm oil mills have obtained the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification as of July 30, 2020.
Additionally, 99.64 per cent or 231,576 organised smallholders with 679,075 ha of palm oil plantations have received their MSPO certification, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said in a statement today.

“The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry and the MPOB have been actively trying to make sure that all private smallholders will get their MSPO certification.
“Private smallholders under the sustainable palm oil clusters (SPOC) will be guided by MPOB’s guidance and counselling (TUNAS) officers in implementing best agricultural practices to prepare for the MSPO group certification,” it said.
As of July this year, 162 SPOC groups nationwide have been certified, involving 62,009 smallholders with 237,876 ha of oil palm plantation.
The MPOB said one of the challenges in certifying private smallholders is the ownership status of lands without valid land titles, which is also related to temporary land titles, encroached land and changing the land use to oil palm cultivation.
It added that the challenges also include difficulties in contacting smallholders which have not been cultivating their plantation on a full-time basis or those who have hired contractors to manage the plantation.
-- BERNAMA

https://www.bernama.com/en/business/news.php?id=1866968
Source: bernama.com