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| Rubber News |
Rubber board takes charge of jatropha plantations7 May 2008 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 |
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