Future prospects

Aik Chin Soh, Sean Mayes, Jeremy Roberts, Tasren Mahamooth, Denis J. Murphy, Sue Walker, Asha S. Karunaratne, Erik Murchie, John Foulkes, Marcel De Raissac, Raphael Perez, Denis Fabre, Kah Joo Goh, Chin Kooi Ong, Hereward Corley

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    For the next few decades, world agriculture has to grapple with the great challenge of not only feeding but also contributing to the societal well-being of the rising world population which is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. To exacerbate the issue, at 355the December 2015 COP21 (http://www.c2es.org/international/negotiations/cop21-paris/summary), the world has accepted that climate change and global warming is here to stay: due to the rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 attributed to largely an anthropogenic cause; and has agreed to implement mitigation measures to reduce the temperature rise to less than 2°C for the next few decades. This is unlikely to be met and a 3-7°C rise would be more likely. How would oil palm respond to this? In terms of meeting the increased per capita dietary fat requirement, the oil palm is poised to take center stage being the highest yielding oil crop (5-10 times more oil per hectare per year than others, e.g., soybean) and consequently requiring a far smaller land area to produce the same yield as other species. However, increased yield in existing production areas is challenging due to continuous mono-cropping related issues while expansion into new forest and marginal (e.g., peat) land faces increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and biodiversity loss concerns. In this chapter, the various issues involved and the R&D efforts needed are discussed and the progress toward achieving the goals that have been set is evaluated.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationOil Palm Breeding
    Subtitle of host publicationGenetics and Genomics
    EditorsAik Chin Soh, Sean Mayes, Jeremy A. Roberts
    PublisherCRC Press
    Pages353-434
    Number of pages82
    ISBN (Electronic)9781498715454
    ISBN (Print)9781498715447
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2017

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