Oil Palm Plantation and Production in Malaysia

Oil palms plantation

One of the World Largest Palm Oil Exporter

The Oil Palm tree (Elaeis guineensis jacq.) originates from West Africa where it grows in the wild and later was developed into an agricultural crop. It was introduced to Malaysia, then Malaya, by the British in early 1870's as an ornamental plant.

In 1917, the first commercial planting took place in Tennamaran Estate in Selangor, laying the foundations for the vast oil palm plantations and the Palm oil industry in Malaysia. The cultivation of oil palm increased at a fast pace in early 1960s under the government's agricultural diversification programme, which was introduced to reduce the country's economic dependence on rubber and tin.

Chemical Composition of Palm Oil

Palm Oil

The Oil

The Oil Palm produces two types of oils ; Crude Palm Oil (CPO) from the fibrous Mesocarp and Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) from the kernels. Although both oils originate from the same fruit, Palm Oil is chemically and nutritionally different from Palm Kernel Oil. It is one of the only two mesocarp oils available commercially, the other being olive oil.

Social and Environmental Impact of Palm Oil

Oil Palm fruits

Palm oil, produced from the oil palm, is a basic source of income for many farmers in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. It is locally used as a cooking oil, exported for use in many commercial food and personal care products and is converted into biofuel. It produces up to 10 times more oil per unit area than soyabeans, rapeseed or sunflowers.

About Palm Oil

Palm Oil

Palm oil (also known as dendê oil, from Portuguese) is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis, and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa.

Palm oil is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content. It is not to be confused with palm kernel oil derived from the kernel of the same fruit, or coconut oil derived from the kernel of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). The differences are in color (raw palm kernel oil lacks carotenoids and is not red), and in saturated fat content: Palm mesocarp oil is 41% saturated, while Palm Kernel oil and Coconut oil are 81% and 86% saturated respectively.