Any plant species can qualify to become a plantation crop if it fulfills the following require­ments: (1) that it is a perennial species, and (2) that its existence as a perennial species is fully justified in terms of its economic advantages. Among all these plantation crops, oil palm fully justifies the occupation of land for at least 20 years, beating all other plantation crops in terms of yield and economic returns. It is there­fore no wonder that oil palm has been the most rapidly expanding plantation crop in the tropics, particularly in Malaysia.