LETTERS: We are all well aware that our nation is on the road to recovery following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which not only claimed many lives, but also battered the economy.
Slowly, but surely, many are picking up the pieces, helped by the government spending billions to assist with the recovery.
Thus, we need to get our economy back on track, including increasing exports and boosting the gross domestic product (GDP).
Undeniably, the commodities sector, especially rubber and palm oil, are among the largest contributors to our economy and play a major role in expediting the National Recovery Plan.
As a player in the commodities sector, we were also greatly impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fortunately for us, the prices of our commodities are picking up.
Last year, we managed to reap about RM64 billion from the export of palm oil and this year, according to the minister concerned, we are tipped to hit RM72 billion.
Apart from the major industry players, thousands of smallholders and their families would also greatly benefit from this.
The one major obstacle is the strong opposition from the West which claim that our palm oil production is destroying forests.
Palm oil is used in almost everything these days, from food, soap, lipstick to even newspaper ink and the world uses it more than any other vegetable oil.
Palm oil is cheap and can produce up to 10 times more oil per hectare than soybeans. Malaysia and Indonesia together produce about 85 per cent of the world's palm oil.
Anyone in the industry can tell you that the views taken by Western nations are grossly unfair, a mere attempt to protect alternative oils produced by the West themselves.
In the last few months, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin has been making numerous trade missions abroad to open new markets for our commodities.
China is reportedly looking to import an extra 500,000 tonnes of palm oil from us and India is aiming for an additional two million tonnes this year.
These would greatly help increase the national GDP. On another matter, the issue of deforestation in regard to palm oil, constantly raised by the West, is in reality nonsense.
The palm oil industry has evolved tremendously and the existing plantations are able to produce much more yield following the use of modern technology and, of course, better fertilisers.
There is no reason to harm the environment for us to expand.
We merely have to improve our technology, which reduces reliance on manpower and use better, more effective fertilisers to enhance production.
The ministry has played a pro-active role in assisting those in the industry improve our yield.
Opening up new markets and storage facilities will help us to enhance exports and provide more opportunities to expand businesses to other nations.
At this point, with positive developments in the commodities sector, Malaysians need to focus on the greater recovery efforts ahead of us.
ABDUL RAHIM HUSSEIN
Shah Alam, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times