The Western countries have been always campaigning that palm oil is damaging the environment and causing deforestation. But in reality, other vegetable oils, such as soybean, rapeseed and sunflower have also destroyed environment and caused deforestation.
Bandung Sahari of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) said that the issue of environment has been publicized since the palm oil and derivative products have dominated the global market of vegetable oils with a market share of around 31.20 percent in 2017/2018. The market share increased by around 85 percent compared to that of 1997/1998.
“Apparently, palm oil turning point occurred in 2005 and 2006 when the palm oil outcompeted the other vegetable oils in the global market. Since then the publication of deforestation has been increasing,” he said during the event of the oil palm plantation fund management board (BPDPKS) – Fellowship Journalist Batch II in Jakarta last Thursday, 22 October 2020.
He also said that if compared to the other industries of vegetable oils, the palm oil industry is quiet new. The palm oil industry in Indonesia has been developed after independence. It is different from the countries in Europe which have developed their agriculture since 1700s.
Actually, based on data from the Oil World, the total acreage of the world’s four main vegetable oils (palm oil, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower) in 2017-2018 was around 298.20 million hectares. Of the total acreage, around 60 percent or 119 million hectares is used for the cultivation of soybeans, while the acreage of oil palm plantation is only around 10 percent or 19.07 million hectares.
But in terms of oil production, the total acreage of 119.83 million hectares of soybean plantations only produce 54.92 million tons of soybean oil or around 30 percent of the total production of the world’s four main vegetable oils. Conversely, the oil palm plantations with a total acreage of only 19 million hectares are able to produce around 70 million tons of oil or 40 percent of the total production of the world’s four main vegetable oils.
The huge production of palm oil is due to its high productivity, which is even higher than the productivity of other vegetable oils.
Considering such condition, Sahari said that there has been a sense of worry among producers of other vegetable oils as the competitors of palm oil, which had led to the negative campaigns that palm oil is the cause of deforestation. In the meantime, the plantation areas of other vegetable oils are bigger in size and have long made expansion of plantations compared to the oil palm plantations.
“How big is the forests already damaged by soybeans and other vegetable oils?. But the oil palm plantation areas are smaller in size, but much higher in productivity,” he said. (*)
Source: AKURAT.CO | Image via youmatter.world
