(*Tajuk melayu - Medan perjuangan baru - Ladang Makanan.
(Tajuk saja bahasa mat salleh, heehee. Tapi nanti Bah 2/2 ada citer dalam bahasa Inggeris yang saya tulis).
LADANG SAWIT MALAYSIA
Apabila penanaman kelapa sawit di Malaysia menjadi semakin popular kira-kira 15 tahun lalu, para eksekutif syarikat besar, termasuk Golden Hope dan Kumpulan Guthrie (kini telah dikawin paksa; kerja bodoh) berhadapan masalah besar: macam mana nak teruskan business yang sedang membangun pesat ni.
Tanah di Malaysia, walaupun besau jika dipandang dari pulau kecik Temasek, tak cukup jika nak ditanam ladang sawit yang besar-besar (gede, kata orang Jawa).
Sawit ni laku seluruh dunia sebab ia minyak makanan lebih sihat dari jagung, soybean dan minyak-minyak lain. Harganya pun berpatutan di pasaran dunia. India dan Pakistan (dan kini Cina) adalah antara negara yang banyak makan sawit Malaysia. Juga digunakan untuk membuat aiskrim, kosmetik, coklat.
Maka akhirnya,
banyak syarikat Malaysia mengembangkan ladang sawit ke Indonesia - di Kalimantan dan Sumatra, kerana sawit mesti ditanam tak jauh dari Equator/Khatulistiwa kerana cuaca dan hujan.
Jika tidak tak hidup.
Sawit mesti ditanam 10 degrees di atas atau di bawah Equator. Baca
di sini di bawah tajuk Palm Oil Production.
Hanya 10 tahun lalu, Malaysia ialah pengeluar minyak sawit terbesar di dunia. Tetapi kerana pelaburan besar ladang-ladang di Indonesia, kini Indonesia dah take over sebagai penjual sawit No.1 di dunia. Malaysia tukar tempat dan kini di tempat kedua. (Sebab itu jangan selalu nak gaduh dengan jiran - sebab hidup kita saling perlu-memerlukan).
Di bawah ini - cerita yang saya tulis pada 2006 tentang pengembangan industri sawit Malaysia ke Indonesia. Tapi itu cerita lama, tentunya data dah bertukar.
Cuma yang saya nak jelaskan ialah Malaysia ni ada power kalau nak tembusi pasaran luar negara! Malaysia terus boleh! Nak kembangkan sayap luar (
external economic wing) untuk terus makmurkan negara.
KRISIS MAKANAN 2007-2008
Tapi sawit ni cerita lain. Kesian Pak Mat dan Datin Piah baru nak minum kopi baca cerita sawit tulisan saya, tersedak. Cerita sebenar saya hari ini ialah perlunya negara-negara kaya dan yang tak banyak tanah pertanian (Singapore, Malaysia samalah tu) perlu mengembangkan Ladang Makanan (Food Farms) ke luar negeri!
Kita semua (satu dunia) hampir padah pada 2007-2008 apabila krisis harga makanan terjadi dulu. Sampai jadi huru-hara di banyak negara miskin sebab harga barang makanan melonjak. Antara sebabnya ialah harga minyak terlalu tinggi, global warming-cuaca El Nino yang mengurangkan pengeluaran makanan (harvest of crops). Baca di sini.
Juga, kerana ladang banyak ditukar untuk mengeluarkan bio-fuel - jagung/corn, sawit dan gula/cane sugar ditanam bukan untuk dijadikan makanan, tetapi untuk dimasukkan dalam enjin kereta sebanyak minyak.
Malaysia dan Singapore pun ada memajukan idea bio-fuel ini. Tetapi kini ramai dah taubat - bahawa jika kita tanam pokok makanan kerana syiok nak naik kereta, mungkin dunia boleh mati kelaparan. Kerana ladang bio-fuel crops ni mesti luas - satu Borneo tu tak cukup. Maklumlah anda nak hidupkan kereta BMW atau Porsche anda, kan banyak pakai minyak tu.
Kerana krisis makanan itu, banyak negara dah sedar:
Food Security is just as important as physical security. Orang tak payah datang bom kamu atau rosakkan ekonomi kamu dengan sabotaj dalaman. Jika harga makanan di dunia tinggi, rakyat kamu akan mengamuk dan tumbangkan kamu. Dan negara boleh kocar-kacir.
Maka timbullah istilah agak baru sekarang ini - "farmland grab". Perebutan negara-negara kaya di dunia nak membeli atau menyewa/lease tanah di negara miskin nak tanam padi, wheat/gandum (nak buat roti canai), jagung, sayur, buah-buahan.
Kalau negara kita (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei - apa khabar Pak Karim) tak lakukan benda yang sama, atau sekurang-kurangnya sedar tentang Food Security ini, mungkin kita akan tewas dan boleh ditumbangkan oleh orang asing atau petualang dalaman apabila harga makanan naik mendadak lagi.
Baca cerita-cerita di sini - farmlandgrab.org - click laporan akhbar dunia mengenai isu ini. Dan juga baca cerita beras/jagung/gandum di grain.org.
Saya kena buat research benda ini dua hari lepas. Ooi, takut info yang saya terbaca. Negara Saudi, Korea, Jepun, negara Arab lain (negara padang pasir) dah banyak menyewa/lease tanah di negara miskin nak tanam food crops. Di Ethiopia, Niger, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, dan kini Indonesia pun nak buka tanah di Papua untuk dijadikan food farms.
OK dulu, baca citer sawit dan pengembangan syarikat Malaysia ke Indonesia.
Saya tulis ni dulu semasa musim panas bulan puasa dan jerebu sekali lagi menghala ke Singapore dan Malaysia, dan orang ramai mula marah. "Kenapa Indonesia ni selalu gitu?". Maka saya pun korek siapa yang empunya ladang sawit di Sumatra dan Kalimantan.
Ouch rupa-rupanya banyak syarikat Malaysia.
Kalau tak ngantuk, nanti di Bah 2/2 citer saya tentang Food Farms ni pula.
Ingat ya: Ini tahun 2006, masa tu Malaysia masih No.1 pengeluar sawit. Kini Indonesia No.1 sebab walaupun ladang milik Malaysia, pengeluaran di negara lain dikira hasil negara itu.
Yang syiok lepas tulis citer di bawah ni ada dua - satu, bos saya gembira sebab banyak data baru dikeluarkan. Dua, ada mat salleh palm oil player telefon saya bertanya - banyak betul maklumat syarikat Malaysia yang ada ladang di Indonesia. Dia kata dia pun tak pernah dapat data seperti itu. Di mana saya dapat? Saya kata mudah 'bang - Saya baca semua Annual Report mereka dan saya telefon syarikat yang tak ada data itu. Juga ada rakan di sebuah brokerage saham yang membuat research tentang sawit.
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Don’t blame us, say Malaysian firms Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia claim zero-burning policy
Publication: The Straits Times, 21 October 2006
Picture Caption: WHOSE FAULT?: A worker carries palm tree seedlings near burning wood on the Seberida plantation in Indragiri Hulu on Sumatra. Malaysian firms blame local Indonesian farmers for setting off the fires.
By REME AHMAD, Malaysia Bureau Chief
Kuala Lumpur: OIL palm plantations are now fighting the perception that they are in a large part responsible for the haze which blights the region every year.
Malaysian officials and companies that operate in Indonesia have denied all responsibility, saying that the haze is caused by poor farmers using fire to clear land near their plantations. They say Malaysian firms in Indonesia have a “zero burning” policy, the same as in Malaysia since 2000.
“When smallholders burn their land, the fires often intrude into our area,” said a senior official of a Malaysian company which has operations in Kalimantan. “No one can stop them as there is little enforcement in remote areas.”
Ample land and cheap labour have attracted big Malaysian plantation companies to Indonesia since 2000.
Today, there are 34 Malaysian plantation companies in Indonesia which together lease about 700,000ha of land – slightly larger than the area of Singapore. This, of course, is reasonably small compared to the 4.1 million hectares in Malaysia which have oil palm plantations on them.
“Our companies went abroad for land which is cheaper and lower labour costs. Indonesia is also very near compared to, say, investing in Africa,” said an official at the Palm Oil Board, a government agency that promotes the industry.Indonesia has 6 million hectares of oil palm plantations.
So the bulk of the palm plantations there are in the hands of Indonesians. Malaysians are in second place with 12 per cent of the land, about half of which is yet to be planted. There is a smattering of other foreign players, including some from Britain.
Malaysia is the world’s largest palm oil producer, with 15 million tonnes of crude palm oil produced last year. It is also the only place in the world for trading in palm oil futures.
Last year, Malaysia’s export revenue from palm oil products was RM28.6 billion (S$12.2 billion), the biggest foreign exchange earner after manufacturing, tourism and petroleum and gas.
Indonesia is the second biggest producer, with 13.3 million tonnes of crude palm oil produced in 2005. Industry players say Indonesia is set to become the world’s biggest producer in the next few years as more of its trees mature and bear more fruit.
But Malaysian planters have not exhausted their expansion plans. Golden Hope Plantations, for instance, has about 30,000ha on long-term lease in Kalimantan. Its group chief executive, Datuk Sabri Ahmad, said in the company’s latest annual report that it plans to increase its holdings to 100,000ha over the next few years.
Malaysia and Indonesia together supply about 75 per cent of the palm oil products consumed globally. The near monopoly is easily maintained as the plants require a wet tropical climate and temperatures of between 24 deg C and 32 deg C. This means they can be grown only at latitudes of up to 10 degrees above or below the equator. Other parts of the world with oil palms are in Africa and South America, near the equator.
Kumpulan Guthrie was the first big Malaysian planter to move into Indonesia in 2000. It was quickly followed by others. “The initial investments are heavy as you have to build roads and mills, and plant the land. But after a few years you get good returns,” said an industry official.
Palm oil is used in cooking oil and a variety of products from ice creams to cosmetics. It is also finding new use as an alternative fuel to run engines – a trend that will result in more land being cleared to house ever-bigger plantations.
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Major players
THERE are 34 Malaysian palm oil companies with operations in Indonesia.
They lease a total of about 700,000ha of land. About 60 per cent of this has been planted.
The following are the big Malaysian players in Indonesia:
- PPB Group (283,200ha)
- PNB’s Kumpulan Guthrie (216,900ha)
- Asiatic Development (98,300ha)
- KL Kepong (40,470ha)
- PNB’s Golden Hope (30,000ha)
- TSH Resources (12,000ha)
(By REME AHMAD)
