Business

13th January 2002

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  • Controversy over oil palm cultivation
  • Framing jigsaw puzzles a rewarding venture

    Controversy over oil palm cultivation

    By Lankika de Livera

    The oil palm issue has sparked off a massive controversy among officials connected to the rubber industry who have stressed on the detrimental effects of oil palm. As with any cultivation, there are the positive as well as negative sides of oil palm, in consideration of the environment and other benefits to villagers.

    However, there remains the negative factors of rubber with regard to finding labour, which is an acute problem in this industry. Tapping of rubber is a half-day exercise and due to its low wage scenario, more and more of the present generation workforce, prefer to work in factories unlike their parents whose options were limited.

    Sri Lanka's plantation industry has been completely dependent on tea and rubber for several decades and most plantation analysts including donors like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) felt that diversification into a third crop such as oil palm was a sensible decision particularly in view of the large losses that plantations have incurred from rubber.

    Negative environmental factors have been pointed out about oil palm and the report submitted after study and research by the Coconut Research Institute (CRI) has come in for much criticism. It is interesting to note this criticism as the CRI had been commissioned by the Ministry of Plantation Industries to conduct this study as public fears had been expressed in connection with this sensitive issue.

    A group of armed and unidentified persons in a Pradeshiya Sabha vehicle stormed several oil palm nurseries in southern Sri Lanka last October, destroying and causing havoc in these estates. The damage ran into millions of rupees.

    Plantation Ministry sources said the latest meeting with the new plantations minister had proved very positive with regard to this issue. It is understood that the state has given its approval to go ahead with oil palm cultivation, setting aside the criticism of parties with vested interests to the betterment of the country at large.

    Oil palm is a relatively new plantation crop, introduced to Sri Lanka to take over from rubber cultivations, which have become uneconomical due to labour shortages and low profits. Oil palm while paying far greater dividends, require less labour and has been called "The Sunrise Crop" and "The Golden Crop" etc. Its immense proven success in Malaysia and Indonesia are ideal examples of its profitability and potential.

    Plantation industry officials allege that there are many politicians who, having vested interests, are trying their best to acquire lands so that they could divide them among their supporters.

    This has become a very serious problem to the plantation industry, officials said. The attack on the oil palm nurseries was apparently at the behest of a local politician. Officials allege that a misinformation campaign has been launched to discredit oil palm and its benefits.

    Oil palm has several positive attributes specially when compared to rubber. These are:

    - Oil palm is not affected by heavy rains unlike rubber and will particularly improve income levels

    - Heavy rain will not affect work. Even smallholders are likely to benefit through the planting of oil palm compared to rubber.

    - Cost of re-planting is less than rubber and tea and will therefore be within the reach of most smallholders.

    - Oil palm cannot be stolen.

    - Oil palm has a shorter period of maturity compared to rubber and will be another positive attribute beneficial to smallholders.

    - The return per hectare for oil palm is higher than rubber even under current market conditions.

    Oil palm has a low investment cost and lower labour utilisation. Approximately 80,000 tonnes of crude palm oil are annually imported to Sri Lanka.

    Palm oil production locally would be a major contributor towards import substitution.

    Initial investment in oil palm requires a lot of capital. Elpitiya Plantations received an ADB loan for Rs. 95 million for oil palm planting on 555 hectares.

    This year the company is expecting to invest in a mill. The only existing palm oil mill is owned by Watawala Plantations, which is a joint venture between Lanka Medical Imports and Tata Tea of India.

    Elpitiya Plantations has held discussions with major local buyers of palm oil - Unilever, Nutrena and Prima - with regard to buying patterns and requirements for the future.

    Rohan. M. Fernando, CEO of Elpitiya Plantations, says that there is no truth about oil palm causing a water shortage and wells drying up. Wells have dried up for many years in the south of the country due to other factors, unrelated to oil palm.

    "Ten years ago when I was working close to the Sinharaja forest, I used to see so much of it being destroyed by illegal felling. Those behind this activity were politicians - why aren't these highlighted in the media?"

    Oil palm has been referred to as the "Golden Crop" of Malaysia, with earnings in 1998 at 13 billion ringit. Malaysia has over 2.8 million hectares under oil palm.

    Palm oil's major competitor is soya bean oil. Newspapers have revealed that palm oil's rapid penetration into the markets, formerly the preserve of soya bean, brought a backlash among US soya bean farmers who launched a smear campaign against oil palm.

    However, the palm oil industry was united in its resolve to nail the lies and successfully counter this nasty campaign by doggedly challenging every allegation made by the soya bean lobby be in its home ground (the US) or elsewhere.

    In Malaysia, they are uprooting their forest cover and planting oil palm. Carson Cumberbatch and Company Ltd of Sri Lanka is planting 20,000 hectares of oil palm in Indonesia.

    They could have easily invested that money here but they chose Indonesia. Carson's oil palm plantations have been in existence in Malaysia and Indonesia for the last 60 years.

    A Carson's source, who declined to be identified, said that oil palm needed a lot of rainfall and the weather in Malaysia and Indonesia was ideally suited for this plantation.

    He said oil palm had a fibrous root system which would absorb the surface water, but stressed that there was no possibility of it absorbing water from outside these plantations - for example allegations that oil palm was the cause of wells in the area drying up in areas where there were oil palm plantations.

    In the light of the current state of the economy of this country and taking into consideration the advice of donor agencies, it is apparent that more study and scrutiny into the whole issue needs to be done.

    Qualified and experienced personnel are required to make a careful study so that policy makers could take sound decisions based on their advice.

    Also to be taken into consideration are the success stories of Malaysia and Indonesia. It should be noted that large extents of the Sumathra jungles have been progressively planted with oil palm.


    Framing jigsaw puzzles a rewarding venture

    By Diana Mathews

    Beautiful picture frames are quite common in several homes but there is something different in the frames hanging at the Moratuwa residence of Sarah Dias - they contain jigsaw puzzles!

    This much-liked game among children as well as adults is now turning into a rewarding business venture for her – picturesque scenes and famous landmarks in jigsaw puzzles have been put together, framed and offered for sale.

    Ms. Dias has transformed her hobby of solving jigsaw puzzles into an interesting business venture. "No more splitting hairs to solve jigsaw puzzles - it's all done and framed and ready for you," she said. She has been indulging in her favourite pastime for many years but started her business venture only recently. "I have already sold a few frames to some of my friends and received a few orders as well," she said.

    She is able to complete a thousand-piece puzzle and frame it within six weeks or less. Special care is taken when framing in order to make sure that the puzzle is done properly. "All you need is patience," she said. "It becomes very interesting once you get started," she added. The cost of a completed framed puzzle varies depending on its size and picture.

    The pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are first placed on a large piece of plywood. "The edges of the puzzle are put together and then I slowly move to the middle," she explained while engrossed in solving a 2,000-piece puzzle. "You have to concentrate and fix the right pieces together," she said. Enraptured we also joined in the little adventure.

    A few puzzle frames that have been completed are the Taj Mahal, the Big Ben and beautiful waterfalls. She receives these puzzles from her eldest son (Snehath) who works in Singapore.

    She has a few framed puzzles for selection by her clients. The clients would have to pay an advance if they choose an unsolved puzzle to be completed and framed, she said.

    Explaining her reason for venturing into this game of skill she said simply, "I wanted to keep myself occupied." Being a housewife she had some spare time so she started with jigsaw puzzles not knowing that someday it would turn her into a businesswoman.

    She also intends to promote her business on the Internet. "Many are purchasing various items on the Internet," she said. "In this modern world it would be the best way to sell,' she added.

    Ms. Dias is a Singaporean and a nurse trained in England. She has been in Sri Lanka since 1982.



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