JAKARTA – The Indonesian government has targeted to replant a total of 500,000 hectares (ha) of oil palm plantations during the period of 2020 – 2022. To realize the target of 180,000 ha per year, the ministry of agriculture has been seeking to make breakthroughs.
The agriculture ministry reported recently that as one of the problems hindering the replanting program is the licensing process, it has simplified the licensing procedures to only two requirements. “In 2020 we simplified the procedures to only two requirements, namely the institutionality and legality of oil palm plantations,” the agriculture ministry’s Plantations Director General Kasdi Subagyono said during a hearing with the house of representatives’ (DPR) Commission IV recently.
In 2017 and 2018 there were 14 requirements that should be fulfilled by growers to apply as the participants of the replanting program. But in 2019, the 14 requirements were streamlined to 8 requirements and then in 2020 cut again to only two requirements.
With only two requirements to be met, Kasdi is confident that the replanting program will be proceeding faster, despite other requirements will have to be fulfilled by the agriculture ministry.
Besides the licensing, Kasdi said they had also made a breakthrough in the process of verification. During the initial implementation of the replanting program, the verification was conducted three times from the level of regencies/mayoralties to the provinces and to the level of central government. “We’ve simplified to only one verification by modifying and integrating the verification teams,” said Kasdi.
Despite replanting realization during 2020 was below target at 94,000 ha, Kasdi is confident that the government will be able to meet the target of replanting 500,000 ha by implementing the breakthroughs.
He said that the replanting program will also increase the productivity of Indonesian oil palm plantations. “Currently, the productivity in the smallholding plantations is only 3.6 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) per ha per year. But with the replanting program with good seedlings and best plantation practices the productivity will increase to 5 or 6 tons per ha,” he noted. (*)
Source: KONTAN.CO.ID | Featured image via pertanian.go.id
