Can palm oil help us eat our way to a greener future?

DESPITE its often maligned reputation, palm oil could be a key player in addressing the world's food security challenge — if it can be produced sustainably.

The world faces a daunting challenge — how to feed a growing population without destroying the planet.

At the heart of this crisis lies the production of vegetable oils, essential for human nutrition but often linked to environmental destruction and social inequity — a true trilemma (a dilemma with three equally undesirable alternatives instead of two).

Oil crops occupy 37 percent of global cropland, and agriculture significantly drives climate change and biodiversity loss.

Addressing this vegetable oil trilemma can yield global benefits. Oils and fats, while essential for all diets, are particularly crucial for those facing food insecurity.

This is because they are cheap, calorie-dense dietary components.

While high-fat diets can lead to obesity and other lifestyle diseases, particularly in middle- and high-income countries, reliable sources of fats can significantly contribute to daily energy requirements for those suffering from food insecurity.

More oil on less land

The oil palm, often criticised but highly efficient, produces the most oil per hectare, making it a potential key player if managed sustainably.

This plant currently produces more oil than any other oil crops — some 76 million tonnes per year on less than 30 million hectares of land, much less land than maize, soy, groundnuts, sunflower, seed cotton or rapeseed require for significantly lower yields.

If we said "no" to palm oil today, the world would somehow need to produce 76 million tons of oil using much lower yielding crops. Because of the high land needs of these other crops, the planetary outcome would be bad.

Production of major vegetable oils in 2021. Palm oil remains a part of global vegetable production and consumption. *Cocoa butter data from 2020. Source: FAOSTAT

As with all oils, the impacts of palm oil production and expansion are dependent on production practices.

For example, some practices, such as large monocultures of oil palm on recently deforested land have large negative impacts, while oil palm grown in forests or agroforests have minimal impacts.

Vegetable oils are produced using many different methods depending on the local context, oil use and position within the value chain and global market. Each of these factors can influence an oil's impact on people and the environment.

Addressing the vegetable oil trilemma requires a shift in food systems moving away from low-cost calorie production without due appreciation for nutritional, environmental and socioeconomic outcomes, such as adherence to human rights.

Modern systems could prioritise these necessities through rigorous accountability and transparency measures and good production and trade practices.

Currently, the global vegetable oil system lacks comprehensive mechanisms to enforce sustainable practices.

However, strategies identified in a recent International Union for Conservation of Nature report offer scalable solutions.

Good practices can include improving soil health, managing water efficiently, and using effective pest control methods, generally referred to as regenerative agriculture. This would create favourable conditions for ecosystem restoration and preservation, as well as suitable habitat for local flora and fauna.

Promotion of human rights and welfare, responsible and respectful social relations with workers and surrounding communities and respect for labour and land rights are essential.

Achieving resilient vegetable oil systems requires a comprehensive and integrated approach that considers these diverse factors at multiple scales.

Palm oil, despite its controversy, uses fewer resources compared to other vegetable oils in terms of fertiliser, land expansion or water, making it suitable to meet global demand for food oils.

Due to major pressure on the palm oil industry to improve production practices, significant strides have been made towards establishing robust certification mechanisms such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Such platforms promote biodiversity through avoidance of deforestation and support local farmers but require more support from the government, smallholders, the private sector and communities to ensure that all palm oil is sustainably produced.

Sustainable solutions

Monitoring sustainable practices in vegetable oil production is challenging due to the complex production cycle involving multiple people.

Ensuring unbiased reporting and accountability is essential for informed consumer decisions.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature report outlines future scenarios for the vegetable oil industry, highlighting the need for an integrated, multidisciplinary approach.

In short, there are no simple answers to the complex vegetable oil trilemma.

For instance, producing all food oils from algae or other microbes is uncertain to be scaled in the near future to compete with current production.

Investing in smallholder agriculture could revolutionise the system but faces challenges, such as economic constraints, marketing issues, labour costs, technology gaps, production decline, climate change, limited education and inadequate infrastructure.

Solving the vegetable oil trilemma demands comprehensive strategies that balance nutrition, environmental sustainability and socio-economic welfare.

By promoting sustainable practices, supporting smallholders and developing robust monitoring mechanisms, the world can move towards a more sustainable and equitable vegetable oil industry.

The journey is just beginning and global discussion and collaboration are essential for forging a path towards better management, production and consumption decisions.