Leading sustainable planter

United Plantations Bhd’s (UP) core philosophy rests on adopting sustainable policies in its operations. It understands that its responsibility to shareholders lies in the very earth it uses to amass profits and it has gone to great lengths to take care of the environment it operates in.

The group has a workforce of 6,600 to manage its oil palm and coconut estates that span 50,000ha across Malaysia (80%) and Indonesia (20%). Some 6,000ha of surrounding land are conservation areas, in line with the company’s policy to maintain and manage the ecological integrity of the landscape it operates in, as well as provide the necessary habitat for endangered and critically endangered species found in or adjacent to its plantations.

In Indonesia, UP has set aside about 30% of its land concession for the purpose of conservation, according to its 2015 annual report. It has also made an effort to increase the biodiversity in its monocrop plantations, working closely with the Copenhagen Zoo. Last year, the company noted that at least 114,864 beneficial broadleaf flowering plants were planted in its plantations, encouraging parasite and predator activities.

UP’s biodiversity team also initiated a long-term study last year on the king cobra through its collaboration with Copenhagen Zoo. Renowned herpetologist Romulus Whitaker was invited to carry out further studies into the ecological role of the snake in plantations.

It is no surprise that UP became the world’s first producer of certified sustainable palm oil on Aug 28, 2008, after it complied with the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) principles and criteria. UP is not resting on its laurels and is proceeding to a higher level of sustainability certification through RSPO Next, a set of voluntary add-ons to its existing principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil. This entails broader no-deforestation policies, no planting on peat land after Nov 16, 2015, no use of fire to clear land and a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The company has already made headway in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. The quantity of agrochemicals (fertiliser nutrients and pesticide/herbicide) used per tonne of palm oil produced in its plantations over the last three years remained substantially lower than annual oilseed crops such as soybean, sunflower and rapeseed. In 2015, the company noted that its use of pesticide was 36 to 40 times lower in every tonne of oil it produced compared to soybean farmers.

The group has also not forgotten its responsibilities to its workers and has set up eight primary schools and nine kindergartens on its properties. It also provides bus subsidies for schoolchildren above 12 and established places of worship, group hospitals and clinics as well as a senior citizens’ home.

Last year, it awarded 44 scholarships to children of its employees under its scholarship programmes.

The group also set up a UP Workers Benevolent Retirement Scheme for workers who have served the group for 10 years and above. Over the past five years, an average of RM230,000 per annum was paid out under this scheme.

Plasma schemes have been implemented at its Indonesian plantations to assist smallholders to develop their land for oil palm cultivation and to steer them away from illegal logging and slash-and-burn activities. Once developed, the plantations are managed by UP for one cycle, after which they will be handed over to the smallholders for self-management. Farmers are paid the proceeds from the first cycle, minus development costs. To date, 535ha have been developed for 360 smallholders and an additional 1,200ha is expected to be provided to the communities surrounding the company’s properties from 2016 to 2018.