Re:A palm oil alternative could help save rainforests
by sharaticku on Wednesday December 23, 2020 @10:18PM
(#25524766)
There are thousands of different palm species, not all of which produce the oil palm fruit, which is the starting point for palm oil. The main palm tree species that produces oil palm fruit is Elaeis Guineensis. This species can only grow within 5-10 degrees of the equator.
There are many palm species in California, but they do not produce oil palm fruit.
I don't know where people got the idea that oil palms are limited to a tropical rainforest climate, but it's not true. Palms are dry-weather crops; that's why they're all over California. Historically, the largest oil palm producer was Nigeria; only a small fraction is a rainforest climate and those areas are urbanized anyway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria#/media/File:Koppen-Gei...
It simply happens that Indonesia and Malaysia hold a significant fraction of the world's rainforests and are developing high-productivity food crops in response to rapid population growth on the shores of the Indian Ocean and of course a popular will that demands economic growth.