OPPOSITION TO OIL PALM PLANTATIONS
Malaysian consultant beaten up in Sri Lanka

Experts and villagers oppose a switchover from rubber trees to oil palm, saying it will deplete groundwater sources and cause pollution

By Feizal Samath
IN COLOMBO

CONTROVERSY over a move to replace traditional rubber plantations with oil palm exploded into violence in Sri Lanka when a Malaysian consultant was beaten up and told to return to his country.

The move to switch from rubber to oil palm has been criticised not only by the rubber industry here but also by environmentalists who say that oil palm plantations would deplete groundwater sources and contribute to pollution with their use of toxic pesticides.

The issue turned violent some months ago when residents backed by local politicians attacked oil palm nurseries belonging to Watawala Plantations at Nakiadeniya in the southern Galle district and assaulted its Malaysian consultant, Mr Hasan Aziz Mohamed.

The 62-year old consultant suffered eye injuries and has since returned to Kuala Lumpur.

'They warned him - go back, no oil palms,' said Mr Vish Govindasamy, managing director of Watawala Plantations, in which India's multinational Tata Group has a US$4-million (S$7.3-million) investment.

No one has been arrested over the attack and the Planters' Association, representing Watawala and two other companies involved in oil palm, has spoken of political interference and indifference by the police and government authorities in dealing with the problem.

Meanwhile, Tata halted further investments in the project.

The oil palm conversion row has been brewing since at least a year before the attack when villagers complained that Watawala's 2,000-ha plantation was draining precious water resources.

The Sri Lankan rubber industry joined in. Though conceding that rubber had lost its place as a key cash crop, it said the many advantages of the rubber tree, including the prevention of soil erosion.

A team of experts from the Plantations Ministry conducted a study and found little or no impact on the environment.

Last month, Rubber Research director Dr L.M.K. Tillekeratne again raised concerns over replacing rubber with oil palm.

He said rubber was a much more valuable crop than oil palm and Sri Lanka should be cautious in proceeding with this experiment.

'Rubber is more versatile and has greater potential for value addition than oil palm,' he said in a statement, stressing that rubber provided forest cover and helped protect forest reserves as well as provided timber for furniture.

He said there was no use for the trunk and branches of oil palm unlike rubber.

The remarks drew fire from Malaysia, where experts say the oil palm has been so successful that it is taking over land previously planted with rubber trees.

Along with tea and coconut, rubber has been Sri Lanka's main export crop for more than a century.

But rubber production and prices have been dropping sharply in the country over the years due to a combination of state rubber land being acquired for other development purposes and world market prices falling.