The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has been declared appropriate for palm oil plantations, according to the Philippine Palm Oil Development Council, Inc. (PPDCI).
PPDCI president Erwin Anthony Garcia said they have identified 800,000 hectares suitable for palm oil plantations.
“With so much land available, we don’t have to go far. Even around BARMM, which is suitable for palm oils, we have identified around 800,000 hectares,” Garcia said during the culmination of the 13th Palm Oil Congress.
What to do with the land
This year, Garcia's firm hopes to enhance the approximately 100,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in the nation by planting palm oil plants on 5,000 hectares of land in BARMM.
He mentioned that the Philippines imported 1.2 million metric tons (MT) of items made from palm oil last year, mostly meeting the country's demand for palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.
“This trend underscores the urgency to wrap up our local production capacity and reduce our independence on external sources. This 1.2 million MT is equivalent to an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 hectares of plantation,” he said.
Recognizing the potential
Garcia further asked the government to acknowledge the palm oil industry's enormous potential as a forceful weapon in the fight against rural poverty and insurgency.
Secretary Leo Tereso Magno of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) then promised to help the palm oil business and reassure stakeholders that the Department of Agriculture (DA) will promote the sector's growth.
“The potential is clear. We can increase the industry's yield if we optimize our advantages in good agro-climatic conditions and rich human resources,” Magno said.
