Sime Darby’s Easy Tool to Check Source of Palm Oil

Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) Berhad today introduced “Crosscheck”, an open access online tool that allows users to trace sources of its palm oil supply down to the mill level.

“There is worldwide concern that palm oil production is causing deforestation. SDP believes that the frontier in halting deforestation is traceability.

Sime Darby Plantation Berhad’s managing director and executive vice-chairman Mohd Bakke Salleh (extreme left) watching his staff trying out the Crosscheck tool.

“Tracking supply back to its source will make it possible to identify where the problems exist,” said Mohd Bakke Salleh, SDP’s managing director and executive vice-chairman, at the launch of Crosscheck here.

Crosscheck allows users to cut through the complexity of SDP’s current supply chain, involving a large number of players with a network of refineries sourcing from hundreds of mills and thousands of plantations and smallholders.

Bakke added that anyone with concerns about whether the palm oil they were using was causing deforestation could access Crosscheck.

SDP is the first in the industry to introduce the tool. The company took two years to come up with the tool.

Asked whether the tool could allay the fears of palm oil consumers, especially in the European Union, which has plans to abort the usage of biofuel in stages till 2030, Bakke said they were just one company that had embarked on the tracing and that there needed to be more awareness.

Crosscheck will become part of the company’s commitment to sustainability in addition to its other commitments such as NDPE (No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation) Policy and Responsible Agriculture Charter.

Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com