KEY POINTS:
Importing palm kernel cakes as supplementary farm feed contributes to rainforest destruction and should be stopped, says a Federated Farmers spokesman.
Andrew Gillanders, Federated Farmers grains and seeds chairman, said he was concerned at the large volumes of palm kernel coming into the country for stock feed.
Mr
Gillanders said palm kernel was a key by product of palm oil production in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.
"We are importing a waste product created from the destruction of tropical rainforests."
Mr Gillanders said that went against the Government's promotion of sustainability issues.
The palm kernel imports also competed against New Zealand's silage and grain industry with some farmers in the last couple of years pulling out of maize silage production, he said.
While he would personally like to see palm kernel imports banned, he was not sure a lot could be done given New Zealand's open trade policy.
But Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen said he did not agree as farmers needed to be able to feed their breeding stock, especially in drought situations.
"The alternative is to kill them, but they are valuable capital stock."
Mr Pedersen said palm kernel was a very good source of feed and this year New Zealand farmers did not have enough locally produced supplies of supplementary feed.
He said farmers used maize silage at different times to palm kernel and for different reasons. "The reality is they are using both and there has not been a cutback in maize production."
The Green Party said there had been a thousand-fold rise in imports of palm kernel feed.
Russel Norman, Greens co-leader, said palm kernel imported as supplementary feed had soared from 408 tonnes in 1999 to 455,000 tonnes in 2007.
In the first three months of this year New Zealand had imported 185,000 tonnes of palm kernel meal and a recent Rural News article said some traders estimated 700,000 tonnes would be landed this year.
"While we understand the summer drought has made feed scarce in some parts of the country, we urge farmers and the Government to look at alternatives to palm kernel."
Dr Norman said increased consumption of palm kernel mixtures or cakes over the last seven years, excluding this year, would require up to 900,000 hectares of rainforest to be cleared for palm oil.
"This is equivalent to clear-felling rainforest four times the size of Te Urewera National Park."
Plantation owners were recording big increases in demand for palm kernel which was driving the profitability of the palm oil industry, he said.
"The palm oil industry is knocking down rainforests and burning peat across Indonesia and Malaysia to expand production to meet the increased demand. This is resulting in the release of massive amounts of greenhouse gases and the destruction of the habitat of endangered animals such as the orang-utan."