PALM oil growers in Tanintharyi Division have asked the government for more land so they can expand their plantations, said a senior agricultural official from the Myanma Perennial Crops Enterprise.

A deputy general manager of the enterprise, U Tin Win, said 29 private companies, including 18 that started business early this year, applied for nearly one million additional acres of land in March.

In fiscal 1998-1999 the government gave private palm oil growers in the division access to 500,000 acres of land, about half of which were suitable for plantation use.

So far about 120,000 acres have been planted, U Tin Win said.

He said the allocation of extra land would help the government achieve its plan to have 700,000 acres under palm oil production by 2030.

The goal of the plan is to increase domestic production of edible oil to 300,000 tonnes a year to help reduce reliance on imports.

Myanmar consumes 400,000 tonnes of edible oil a year, about half of which is imported, mainly from Malaysia.

U Tin Win said the government’s policy of supporting palm oil growers by providing loans will also help boost domestic production.

In April 18 private companies applied for loans totalling about K7 billion from the Myanma Agricultural Development Bank to help expand their plantations and set up oil palm extraction factories in Myeik, Dawei and Kawthaung in Tanintharyi Division.

U Tin Win said more than 21,000 acres of plantations in the division were producing palm oil.