NBPOL eyes F1 hybrid for palm oil

 By GYNNIE KERO

NEW Britain Palm Oil’s (NBPOL) joint venture with two other partners to develop F1 hybrid for oil palms will give Papua New Guinea priority access to the world’s yielding oil palm varieties.

The F1 hybrid variety is the first generation offspring of two distinctly different and genetically uniform parents, each with identical sets of chromosomes. 

Chief executive Nick Thompson said this was a long-term venture that would potentially deliver a quantum leap in palm oil yields through genetics research and development.

He said NBPOL was committed to delivering higher yields per hectare, a principle that underpinned the very notion of sustainable agriculture.

Thompson said told The National that “NBPOL and PNG led the world in oil palm breeding … this is just another example of NBPOL investing in PNG’s future, one that we are very excited about”.

Thompson said: “There are three partners in this new venture – NBPOL, SIPEF and BioSing. 

“BioSing bring with them the technology for the breeding of the new oil palm hybrids, many of their scientists are world leaders in their field and are connected with leading universities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. 

“SIPEF are joint venture partners that bring with them access to land in Indonesia. NBPOL will be of course using any new technology that is developed for our own estates in PNG, hopefully giving PNG priority access to the world’s highest yielding oil palm varieties. 

 “If successful, this will place the NBPOL breeding programme as the leading light in the development of oil palm genetics. 

“NBPOL and PNG leads the world in oil palm breeding, this is just another example of NBPOL investing in PNG’s future.