WELCOME REMARKS

BY

DR AHMAD KUSHAIRI DIN

President, The International Society for Oil Palm breeders (ISOPB)

At the Opening of the

International Seminar on Breeding for Sustainability in Oil Palm,

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

18 November 2011

Y. Bhg Datuk Choo Yuen May, Director-General of Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Honoured Guests,

Distinguished Speakers, Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning,

First and foremost, on behalf of The International Society for Oil Palm Breeders (ISOPB), I would like to extend a warm “Selamat Datang” to the International Seminar on Breeding for Sustainability in Oil Palm. The seminar is jointly organized by ISOPB and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). We wish to thank MPOB for the strong support in organizing this seminar.

ISOPB was formed and registered with the Registrar of Society in Malaysia in 1983. The main aim of the Society is to advance the knowledge of oil palm breeding and genetics through international cooperation. Towards this goal, ISOPB had organized a number of seminars, workshops, symposia, colloquia, short courses and field visits. While most of these activities were carried out in Malaysia, the events were also conducted in other countries, namely Indonesia, Thailand, France, Ivory Coast and Colombia. The last ISOPB seminar was organized in 2010 in Indonesia.

Proceedings of the Seminars, Workshops and Symposia were published by ISOPB with the cooperation of MPOB. Earlier, the proceedings were published in the form of hardcopies. Recently, ISOPB publishes the proceedings online at its website: www.isopb.org. The Website was launched during the ISOPB Seminar in 2010 in Indonesia. ISOPB also publishes a Newsletter since July 1984 with the aim to inform members on activities of the Society. Past issues were published as hardcopies and it is moving towards a digital newsletter online.

Currently, the Society has about 100 members from various countries around the world. Particulars of members are posted on ISOPB website. Members are urged to update their particulars in the website. New members are most welcomed.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, ISOPB is organizing the International Seminar on Breeding for Sustainability in Oil Palm. The title or theme of the seminar was chosen because the issue on sustainability is one of the current concerns in oil palm cultivation and palm oil production. Breeders and tissue culturists have a role to play in developing planting materials which are sustainable in terms of, among others, efficient selection methods, environmental-friendly production, more efficient palms and improvements in productivity.

The one-day Seminar received an overwhelming response from presenters, where 18 papers will be deliberated. Topics of papers include breeding for sustainable palm oil, bunch analysis method, selection for bunch index, variation in leaf nutrient concentration, control of bud rot, clonal performance, and germplasm collection and utilization. We have a very tight one-day programme and hope that speakers will keep to their allotted time diligently.

While papers presented are mainly on breeding, its related sciences and efforts, such as the oil palm genome projects and Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) are important in breeding for sustainability in oil palm planting materials. A number of oil palm research stations worldwide are incorporating molecular techniques to screen breeding materials at the nursery to weed-out abnormal ramets. Breeders need to keep abreast with these sciences for application in breeding programmes.

On another note, the ISOPB Executive Committee is exploring the possibility of reactivating the Fellowship Award among members. The Committee is drafting the selection criteria and welcomed comments and suggestions from members.

ISOPB will keep on organizing scientific meetings regularly, such as the seminar today. While planning for the next event, it is noted that there could possibly be three major oil palm conferences in 2013, namely PIPOC Malaysia, Indonesian Oil Palm Congress, and Fedepalma Oil Palm Conference in Colombia. ISOPB will plan to organize a seminar in conjunction with one of these conferences.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to thank all participants for the overwhelming response to attend this seminar, where the Organizing Committee had to change the venue from a small room to a bigger auditorium. This showed the keen interest, especially among the young researchers, in the science of breeding and genetics, and progresses made in seed breeding and clonal propagation. I wish all participants a very fruitful seminar.

With that note, I declare the Seminar on Breeding for Sustainability in Oil Palm officially open. Thank you.

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