By Ooi Tee Ching
THE Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) has been put in charge of jatropha
plantations, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk
Peter Chin said.
This means MRB will develop high yielding jatropha clones and regulate
large-scale jatropha plantations on marginal land.
This way, jatropha plantations will not compete for agriculture land
meant for food production, Chin said, adding that the land will be
located far away from fertile agriculture land meant for food crops.
"MRB will research and develop jatropha clones that will yield high
oil content," he told Business Times after officiating the soft launch
of the International Rubber Conference (IRC) & Exhibition 2008 in
Kuala Lumpur on Monday night.
The IRC series is a calendar event among rubber experts worldwide. MRB
will host the IRC 2008 and more than a thousand delegates are expected
to attend the conference in Kuala Lumpur from October 20 to 23.
MRB director general Datuk Kamarul Baharain Basir explained that the
government plans for jatropha on a commercial scale and the oil
extracted will be used as biodiesel feedstock.
"In future, jatropha can be planted mono-crop or interspersed with
rubber trees. Jatropha doesn't need that much water, its genetic
make-up is similar to that of the rubber tree," Kamarul Baharain said.
With an initial allocation of RM2 million, MRB had already planted 2ha
with various jatropha strains sourced from Thailand, Myanmar, India,
China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
"By mid-2009, we hope to expand the seedfield spread of variants to
38ha," he added.
Source: Business Times Online
