Suicidal Plant?

I listened in to some speakers at a forum on enhancing forest connectivity within the Heart of Borneo, and for the first time, I heard that oil palm is a suicidal crop! Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan says that oil palm needs people to take care of it, or it dies, as in it commits suicide. Interesting. He says it is for this reason it is better to plant oil palm on degraded land instead of the fire hazard acacia mangium which not only multiplies even without care, but doesn't look too pretty.

Just in case you are wondering, he wasn't telling people to go plant oil palm. He said it in the context of Sabah Foundation's concession area in Benta Wawasan near Tawau, part of which was logged for a pulp and paper mill project in the 1990s. The project didn't materialise, and the place has been left degraded. He says millions can be earned from oil palm and the money can be used to restore other degraded forests, and help fund Sabah Foundation's socio-economic activities like giving out scholarships and building rural hostels. He says he has to deal with the devil sometimes, cause we can't just live on love when talking about conservation.