KOTA KINABALU: The palm oil industry in Sabah is facing a dangerous viral attack which threatens to cripple the sector.
State authorities are tightening quarantine procedures for import of oil palm materials, following the detection of coconut cadang-cadang viroid-like symptoms in oil palm seedlings that were brought in from the Peninsula.
Coconut cadang-cadang viroid (CCCVd) disease, which is considered new in the country, can result in the decline in oil palm fruit yield and end with death of the infected tree.
Stringent measures are being implemented by the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry through the State Agriculture Department, which is responsible for issuing import permits of oil palm materials into Sabah since Jan 1.
State Agriculture director MC Ismail Salam said Sabah was the latest state to take such a measure after the Federal Agriculture Department banned the import of oil palm materials into the Peninsula, except for research purpose, under the Quarantine Act 1976, last year.
He said Sarawak Agriculture Department has also taken steps by importing only germinated oil palm seedlings into the state, while disallowing those in the form of tissue-cultured materials.
“Nevertheless, in the case of Sabah, we still allow the import of oil palm materials but such imported materials must be confirmed to be free of CCCVd-like symptoms before it can enter the state,” he said.
He said the department at present would insist on a report from a certified laboratory confirming that the imported material is free of CCCVd.
Monitoring situation
Ismail said that leeway had been given due to the limited number of oil palm seed growers in the state and the huge demand for seedlings for replanting.
There are more than 70 Malaysian Oil Palm Board (MPOB) certified oil palm nurseries in the country. There is also only one certified laboratory at Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) for analysing and detecting the CCCVd disease.
Despite the overall threat to the industry, Ismail said the department was comfortable with the measures taken.
“We have detected in some samples taken from the imported oil palm materials symptoms (of the disease) when sent to UPM for analysis,” said Ismail.
The department is working together with the State Customs Department to monitor entry points to ensure the state remains free of CCCVd.
“At the moment, Sabah is still free of CCCVd and we will continue our monitoring,” said Ismail.
CCCVd was recently added to the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) A1 list of quarantine pests.
The CCCVd-like viroids can be transmitted by seeds or pollen and occur in almost all plant parts.
A study showed the total losses of about 30 million palms and annual yield losses of about 22,000 tonnes of copra in the Philippines have been attributed to cadang-cadang disease.
According to EPPO, there is no known control measures for now.
Difficult to diagnose
Potential control strategies include elimination of reservoir species, vector control, mild strain protection and breeding for host resistance.
Eradication of diseased plants is usually performed to minimise the spread but is of dubious efficacy due to the difficulties of early diagnosis.
Among the symptoms are yellow leaf spots appearing water-soaked in reflected light, and translucent yellow in transmitted light during the early stage (lasting two to four years). Nuts become small and rounded, with scars.
At the medium stage (lasting around two years), the leaf spots become numerous, giving the lower two-thirds of the crown a yellowish appearance, nut production ceases and frond size declines.
In the late stage (lasting around five years), leaf spots almost join together, leaflets become brittle and palm dies.
The time from the appearance of first symptoms to tree death ranges from around eight to 16 years and is generally greater in older palms.
Oil palm is a significant contributor to Sabah’s economy, contributing RM19.3 billion (40.1%) of the state’s total export revenue (RM48.1billion) in 2008, he said, adding that some 1.4million hectares (94%) were cultivated with oil palm in the same year..
The state oil palm plantation sector also provided employment to 407,800 people, representing 31.2% of the state total workforce, while a source of income for about 12,000 individual smallholders (more than 130,000ha).
The state government is also on an aggressive drive to develop the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu.
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