Vol. 22 (1) March 2022 – OPIEJ

The Readiness of Secondary School Teachers for Sustainable Oil Palm Themed-based Teaching and Learning

mpob_admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:29:55 +0000

Numerous educational programs were introduced to create awareness and interest in Malaysian oil palm industry among students. However, to date, those programs were only conducted informally via campaigns run by the industry players. For that reason, this study is being carried out to identify and ascertain whether school teachers are prepared to introduce a new education program on ‘Sustainable Oil Palm Industry’ to be implemented as part of formal education in lower secondary schools. Following this, 421 lower secondary school teachers were surveyed with questionnaires distributed online through media social. The collated information and data were studied descriptively to establish its frequencies, percentages and mean values. The findings of this analysis show that the level of preparedness of the teachers in terms of related knowledge is considered at ‘moderate level’. It was also found that to be successful in the implementation of this program, teachers need to be provided with sufficient information and knowledge in this particular subject. In addition, adequate trainings and teaching aids should also be provided in line with the requirements of the existing school curriculum.

Risk Response Strategies of Malaysian Oil Palm Estates for the Downturn in CPO Prices

mpob_admin — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 08:07:54 +0000

Being traded in the Bursa Malaysia Derivative market, the price of crude palm oil (CPO) is volatile, which brings uncertainty to the profitability of the palm oil industry players, particularly to the oil palm growers. Lower CPO prices also causes the fresh fruit bunch (FFB) price to decline. Hence, the purpose of this study is to identify the risk mitigation strategies applied by the Malaysian oil palm estates during the low CPO prices environment to remain profitable in businesses. The study aims to examine the best risk mitigation measures practiced by the estates faced with a situation of low CPO prices environment and provides some guidelines to the relevant organisation to prioritise the mitigation measures in order to minimise the risk associated with low CPO prices. Primary data were collected through an online survey to 769 plantations throughout Malaysia. A descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. The study also provides various responses from the experienced oil palm players on the most crucial component in mitigating the price risk arising from the downturn in CPO prices. The measures include management of business assets, business diversification and the financial management found to be significant to reduce the risk of price volatility. Meanwhile, elements under the operational business decisions were the least preferred measures to minimise the risk during low CPO prices.

Factors Contributing to China’s Intake of Palm Oil

mpob_admin — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 07:53:56 +0000

China, a country with the largest population of over 1.3 billion was identified as a region with huge potential for export market. Currently, China is one of the largest palm oil importers and has shown an increasing trend over the years, with CAGR of 7.87 from 1.40 million tonnes to 6.37 million tonnes between 2000 and 2020. This translated into a scenario of a growing palm market in China. Thus, this study aims to investigate factors influencing the demand for palm oil in China using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). Annual time series data from 1980 to 2019 has been used for the analysis. The bound test indicates that there is a long run relationship among the studied variables. The empirical results showed that gross domestic products, both in producing and importing countries; consumer price index; palm oil consumption; the population of China; palm oil and soyabean oil prices are the significant determinants of Malaysian palm oil demand in China.