MSPO – OPIEJ

The Intention To Adopt Green Pesticide Among Oil Palm Planters: Review Of The Extant Literature

mpob_admin — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:06:08 +0000

Pests and diseases can cause costly and irreparable harm to crops, especially oil palm. There are many methods that planters can adopt to manage them, and green pesticides can serve as an alternative solution. Preliminary research is carried out by adopting the theory of planned behaviour or TPB [attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC)] for a sound conceptual framework. This paper, therefore, investigates the determinant factors affecting Malaysian oil palm planters to adopt green pesticides. A comprehensive literature review was used as the methodology. The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) was proposed as a moderator to optimise the planters’ intention. Overall, 12 research propositions, recategorized in TPB, were discussed in this paper and identified as the factors affecting the oil palm planters’ intention to adopt green pesticides. The proposition will lead to future empirical findings which are anticipated to facilitate the industrial transition toward utilizing environmentally-friendly pesticides.

Factors Influencing the Certification Process of Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) during the Preparation Phase for Independent Smallholders in Malaysia

mpob_admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 08:08:28 +0000

The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification scheme serves as one of the platforms to address the concerns over issues related to environmental, social and economic impacts of the palm oil industry in Malaysia. Hence, MSPO certification has been mandatory for all palm oil operators, including smallholders, since 1 January 2020. In Malaysia, there are two types of smallholders, namely organised and independent. This study focussed on the independent smallholders. The purpose of the study is to investigate factors influencing the MSPO certification process during the preparation phase (MSPO pre-audit activities) for independent smallholders in Malaysia. The long duration of the MSPO certification process for independent smallholders caused difficulty for them to supply their fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to the palm oil mills. The results show several factors that influenced the certification process during the MSPO pre-audit activities, such as incomplete information and technical errors during application for MSPO certification, illiteracy rate and level of education of the smallholder, accessibility of the holding, and the lack of competent attending officers. The results obtained also show that the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) advisory visit required a long time and was only completed within 37 days (29%), while issuance of the internal audit report took a much shorter time and could be completed within 4 days (3%). Based on this study, there appears to be a need to revise the existing guidelines in order to speed up the MSPO certification process for independent smallholders in Malaysia, and to support our commitment towards sustainability of the palm oil industry.

Moving Forward with Mandatory MSPO Certification Standards

mpob_admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 08:00:49 +0000

The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme was developed as the national scheme in Malaysia for oil palm plantations, independent and organised smallholdings, and palm oil processing facilities. The Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council (MPOCC) develops, operates and manages the MSPO Certification Scheme. The MSPO Standards used under this scheme cover a range of principles and criteria (P and C) that covers the environmental, social, and economic aspects in oil palm plantation management, palm oil milling and supply chain traceability systems. The MSPO Standards include certification for independent smallholders, organised smallholders, plantations, and all processing facilities under the scheme. In 2017, an official announcement was made by the Malaysian government that the implementation of the MSPO Scheme will be made mandatory by the end of December 2019. This shows Malaysia’s commitment to and policy support for nationwide implementation of a credible oil palm certification system operated through accredited third-party certification bodies (CBs) when auditing of all field practices and milling operations is conducted against set auditable standards. This article reviews the development of the MSPO Certification Scheme, its institutional set-up, strengthening of the systems and standards through the review process, incentives to encourage adoption and tax relief, and amendments to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)’s regulations for its implementation as a mandatory certification scheme. The paper also discusses some of the issues and challenges in implementing mandatory sustainability standards.