Greens worried about palm kernel imports

Palm Kernel The Green Party is urging farmers to look at alternatives to palm kernel for feeding stock because of the impact on rainforests. Green co-leader Russel Norman said palm kernel imported as a supplementary feed had gone from 408 tonnes in 1999 to 455,000 tonnes in 2007. Already in the first three months of this year, 185,000 tonnes of palm kernel meal had been imported. A recent Rural News article had some traders estimating 700,000 tonnes would be landed in New Zealand this year, Dr Norman said. "Increases in consumption of palm kernel mixtures or cakes by New Zealand agriculture over the last seven years, excluding this year, would need up to 900,000 hectares of rainforest to be cleared for palm oil to meet the increased demand if new plantation were required," he said. This was the equivalent to clear-felling rainforest four times the size of Te Urewera National Park. Palm kernel was the most important by-product from the production of palm oil. "The palm oil industry is knocking down rainforests and burning peat across Indonesia and Malaysia to expand production to meet increased demand." Dr Norman said the Greens understood the summer drought had made feed scarce in some parts of New Zealand. But it urged farmers and the Government to look at alternatives to palm kernel because of its role in destroying rainforests. Greenpeace said the dairy sector was being environmentally irresponsible in importing huge quantities of palm kernel for cattle feed.