Kalsom Zakaria – OPIEJ

Maximising Smallholders’ Income through Agro-tourism

mpob_admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 10:38:31 +0000

In Malaysia, there are about 650 000 oil palm smallholders who rely on the oil palm industry for their livelihoods. The fluctuation in world palm oil prices directly affects the oil palm industry in Malaysia, especially the smallholders. At the moment, the government promotes the integration of oil palm plantation with crops and livestock through MPOB to improve the oil palm smallholders’ income. Nevertheless, some smallholders integrate their oil palm farm with agro-tourism. Smallholders’ involvement in integration involving other crops has long been studied; however, the integration between oil palm smallholdings with agro-tourism has yet to be studied. Therefore, this study aims to examine the extent to which the integration between oil palm smallholdings and agro-tourism would increase the smallholders’ income by using a cost-benefit analysis. This study which focuses in Perak had showed that whether smallholders integrate their farm with agro-tourism or concentrate on oil palm farming alone, both options have the potential to provide smallholders with consistent returns. The cost-benefit analysis conducted showed a positive net present value (NPV) and high internal rate of return (IRR) for both options. This study also revealed that for the oil palm-based agro-tourism model, although the occupancy rate was reduced to between 70% and 50% of the current level, the agro-tourism model was still viable. Nevertheless, if the occupancy rate was reduced to 20% of the current level, this study showed that the NPV and IRR for the model with agro-tourism were lower than that of the model without agro-tourism. Therefore, to ensure the maximisation of their income, the oil palm smallholders should diversify their activities to include other activities, such as agro-tourism.

Keywords: agro-tourism, cost-benefit analysis, smallholder, income, price

Competitiveness of Malaysian and Indonesian Palm Oil Export in the Balkans: A Constant Market Share Analysis

mpob_admin — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 07:53:33 +0000

Indonesia and Malaysia are the two largest palm oil exporters in the world. Collectively, they cover on average more than 80% of total palm oil exports. Although Malaysia is ranked second after Indonesia in palm oil exports, their export competitiveness varies between markets. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the export competitiveness of Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil in the Balkans market using constant market share analysis (CMS). CMS approach has often been used in examining export performance and indicating the direction of competitiveness. This study shows that Malaysia has demonstrated better market effect and distribution effect performance compared to Indonesia in the Balkans as evidenced in the CMS results of the period under review

Keywords: Palm oil export, constant market share, Balkans, Malaysia, Indonesia

Demand for Palm Oil in Turkey

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:36:44 +0000

This study attempts to examine the short- and long-run relationships between Turkey’s palm oil imports, palm oil prices, sunflower oil prices and domestic income, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method with data collected for the period 1980 to 2015. The bound test indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the studied variables. The empirical results show that domestic income, measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and sunflower oil prices have positive significant relationships with palm oil demand in Turkey in the long run. At the same time, palm oil prices show a significant negative relationship with palm oil demand in Turkey.

Keywords: palm oil, Turkey, ARDL, GDP, unit root test, error correction models

Factors Affecting Palm Oil Demand in India

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:27:49 +0000

India is the world’s leading importer of edible oils and is likely to remain a prominent importer in the future. Her large population and steady economic growth are important contributing factors for her increasing consumption and imports. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, India pursued self-sufficiency in vegetable oil production. However, domestic production was then stagnant and unable to meet the growing demand. This caused the government to allow the import of edible oils under open general license (OGL), particularly of palm oil due to its price competitiveness. With the increasing demand for imported oils and fats, especially palm oil, a study on India’s palm oil demand is deemed important. This study aimed to determine factors influencing the demand for palm oil in India by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models over the period 1980- 2015. The result of the bound test indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the studied variables and palm oil demand. The empirical result reveals that population has a significant positive relationship with palm oil demand in India in the long-run. However, domestic income measured by gross domestic product (GDP) and the price discount of palm oil over soyabean oil was found to have a significant negative relationship with palm oil demand in India. The negative relationship between GDP and palm oil demand shows that palm oil is perceived by Indians to be an inferior goods. Meanwhile, the negative relationship between the difference between soyabean and palm oil prices and palm oil demand shows that not only are soyabean and palm oils close substitutes, but also that palm oil has the characteristic of a giffen goods.

Keywords: palm oil, demand, India, ARDL, bound test

The Effect of Soyabean Oil Price Changes on Palm Oil Demand in China

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:21:08 +0000

China is the biggest market for oils and fats, with consumption indicating a steadily increasing trend from 25.7 million tonnes in 2005 to 36.6 million tonnes in 2015. Palm oil is one of the largest volume of oils and fats consumed by China, representing 8.0% of the total consumption for 2015. Palm oil is thus the largest component of the oils and fats imports, particularly for the instant noodles industry. The price of palm oil substitutes, especially soyabean oil, highly influences the demand for palm oil. China’s huge crushing capacity to satisfy the demand for soyabean meal also means that there is a necessity to import large quantities of soyabean, which subsequently increases the local supply of soyabean oil, thus affecting the demand for palm oil. This study attempted to examine the short-run and the long-run relationships between China’s palm oil imports and palm oil prices, soyabean oil prices, soyabean meal prices and domestic income, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method with data from 1980 to 2015. The result of the bound test indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the studied variables. The empirical results reveal that domestic income, measured by the gross domestic product (GDP), and the difference between soyabean oil and palm oil prices have positive significant relationships with palm oil demand in China in the long-run. At the same time, soyabean meal price show a significant negative relationship with palm oil demand in China. The result indicates that GDP, the difference between soyabean oil and palm oil prices, and soyabean meal price play important roles in determining palm oil demand in China.

Keywords: palm oil, soyabean, China, ARDL, GDP