OIL PALM ramets produced through the tissue culture process by TSH
Biotech Sdn Bhd can double palm oil production from five metric tonnes
per hectare currently to 10 metric tonnes as targeted by the government.
Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Hamzah
Zainuddin said TSH Biotech, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TSH Resources
Bhd, was producing the oil palm ramets to help the government in raising
the income of smallholders in the oil palm sector.
“The oil
palm smallholders also benefit from the success of TSH Biotech. This is
an example of the continuing cooperation bet-ween government agencies
and the private sector,” he told reporters after visiting Wakuba
Biotech, a lab facility owned by TSH Biotech, at Wakuba in Tawau
yesterday.
He said TSH Biotech had been working closely with
the Malaysian Palm Oil Board for the past five years to produce the new
oil palm ramets and the company is now the biggest ramet producer in
Sabah and Sarawak.
According to Hamzah, the cloned shoots from TSH Biotech’s lab can
bear fruit in 18 months, a shorter period compared to normal oil palm
seedlings.
He said the trees were also shorter compared to
normal oil palm trees and could be productive from 28 to 30 years. –
Bernama
