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Agricultural experts say a fungal disease once confined to old palm trees in coastal areas is now spreading across Malaysian plantations and appearing far earlier in growth cycles, threatening yields in recently replanted areas.
The spread of the fungus in Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil exporter, as well as in Indonesia, the top producer, presents another headache for an industry already grappling with stagnant output of the world's most widely used vegetable oil as plantations age.
Julian McGill, managing director of oilseed consultancy Glenauk Economics, said Ganoderma fungus has begun appearing in second-generation plantings, whereas it previously only showed up after three planting cycles.
The disease becomes more frequent as successive generations of palm trees are replanted on the same land.
"The enforcement of field-burning bans has also increased its spread, and outbreaks of Ganoderma in new plantings, inland soils and younger trees appear to have become more common," McGill added.
Ganoderma spreads slowly but is difficult to detect. "By the time you see the symptoms in the field, the disease has already become established, and infection may have already spread," McGill explained.
In the past, plantations would burn old trees to clear the way for new plantings, which halted the spread of any existing infection. However, burning has since been banned because of its contribution to the region's haze problem in Southeast Asia.
Chung Kim Fun, a professor of plant pathology at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, said some studies estimate that a 1% increase in Ganoderma infection can reduce plantation yields by 0.5% to 0.8%, depending on factors including tree age and infection intensity.
"Over a 25-year crop cycle, this could mean a cumulative loss of 15% to 20% in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yields in severely affected areas," he added.
According to data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), of the 1.46 million hectares of oil palm areas surveyed last year, 199,644 hectares, or 13.7%, were infected with Ganoderma, with the states of Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Perak and Negeri Sembilan the worst affected.
Data for previous years was not available. Malaysia's total planted oil palm area stands at 5.61 million hectares.
Ganoderma is likely to reduce yields and palm oil output, further tightening global supplies that have already been affected by replanting delays and Indonesia's biodiesel mandate, which pushed palm oil prices above soybean oil last year, reversing years of trading at a discount.
A "Death Sentence"
M.R. Chandran, chairman of agri-tech company IRGA, described Ganoderma as the second-biggest concern for oil palm growers after labour shortages, given its impact on yields.
The veteran industry expert said an infection rate of around 14% on a plantation could result in FFB yield losses of between 20% and 60% per hectare, depending on other conditions.
He added that in Peninsular Malaysia, young palm trees in replanted areas are suffering high infection rates because old, diseased material was not properly removed.
Smallholders who lack the resources to prevent the spread of Ganoderma are considered particularly vulnerable.
Mohd Sharul Hizam Shafie, a farmer in Selangor state, said around two acres of his family's 50-acre plantation had been affected, although only one tree had been felled after reaching a critical stage.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad (KLKK.KL), which has 287,354 hectares of planted area in Malaysia and Indonesia, said in its annual report that it is combating the disease across all its plantations but did not specify the extent of its spread or impact.
Malaysia's FGV Holdings told Reuters that about 1% of its planted area was infected as of 2024, but the impact on FFB output this year would be less than 0.1% thanks to ongoing intervention.
Nevertheless, Carl Bek-Nielsen, chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), said Ganoderma amounts to "a death sentence" because there is no cure once a tree is infected.
"Productivity will start declining gradually immediately after infection, so yields will be significantly lower in affected fields," Bek-Nielsen added.
Source: Reuters