A Pilot Study on Sustainable Practices of Malaysian Palm Oil Mills

Abstract

Over the past decade, palm oil as an edible vegetable oil has been focus of discussions in the area of sustainability standard for palm oil production. There is a lack of knowledge in terms of sustainable practices in Malaysian palm oil mills particularly among the mills owned by Chinese community in Malaysia. This pilot study aims to determine the gap for Malaysian Chinese millers to attain Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standard in terms of knowledge and documentation. The study explored the following main research question: What are the main issues and challenges faced by Malaysian Chinese palm oil millers in the context of sustainable certification process? Employing qualitative approach, five Chinese palm oil millers Locating in the state of Pahang, Malaysia were selected randomly for in-depth face-to-face interviews and non-participant observations. This field study was conducted in the year of 2017. The study results indicate that Malaysian Chinese palm oil millers place great priority on the environmental management and pollution control policies implemented by the local government through the Department of Environment (DOE). Regular inspections by the local DOE officers on millings waste management and cleaner production technologies become the managements main point of concentration. Another area of concerns from the Malaysian Chinese millers is the well-being of their mill workers. Other components of RSPO principles and criteria receive moderate attention. In view of the results of this pilot study, it had shown that the Malaysian Chinese millers lacked certain knowledge and assistance in documentation in order to qualify the RSPO standard. Thus, a bigger study on this group of Chinese millers should be carried out so that a comprehensive guidelines and documentation software can be developed to assist this group in meeting the world requirements expected of them.