By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 25 April 2016 – Researchers of sustainability of the palm oil industry should seek new sources of grants and not just rely on government funding or the usual edible oil producers, says the Director of Institute of Climate Change (IPI) at The National University of Malaysia (UKM) Prof Dato’ Dr Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah.

She said they still have to do further research on palm oil even as it becomes harder to find more money for projects.

At the same time, the scientists must be able to do studies that have the best interest of the industry with as little interference as possible.

“Together we can act as a pressure group on proposing the kind of research into palm oil that we see fit, instead of doing what the industry imposes on us”, she told researchers from ten universities taking part in the third annual general meeting of the Academic Research on Palm Oil Sustainability (ARPOS) network, here today.

She urged network members to be more assertive when recommending their projects to potential sponsors, as the major endowment sources do have their own agenda that might be different from the universities.

However, Prof Sharifah Mastura said the researchers would know what is best for having a sustainable industry, and submit their own proposals.

As for ARPOS itself, she said a new pro-tem committee will be formed before election of office-bearers are held later this year.

Among the universities attending the meeting included the University of Nottingham Malaysian Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Malaya.