PUTRAJAYA, Nov 28 (Bernama) — Tun Dr Daim Zainuddin was yesterday quoted by the Malay Mail in his report, “No future for palm oil, but coconuts is a possibility”, which I view with much concern. My opinion is that both the oil palm and coconut cultivation which are highly appropriate for our climatic conditions have their respective roles in our environment. When properly managed these could prove complimentary to each other in many ways.
Nevertheless, there is a good reason why Palm oil is still the best agri-commodity for Malaysia. The industry contributed 4.5% to the Malaysian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and RM67.5 billion or 52.8% of export earnings to the country in 2018.