JAKARTA – The government, through the oil palm plantation fund management board (BPDPKS), has allocated a fund of Rp5.567 trillion to finance the replanting program of 180,000 hectares oil palm plantations this year.
Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto said recently that the fund is part of the government’s efforts to support the national palm oil industry, which is the country’s largest contributor of foreign exchange earnings.
“Our main support will be to help realize the target of replanting 180,000 hectares of oil palm plantations by allocating a fund of Rp5.567 trillion for this year replanting program,” he said in a press release issued recently.
This year replanting program is part of the government’s national plan to help the smallholders, who own around 41 percent of Indonesia’s total 16.38 million hectares oil palm plantations, to replant between 180,000 – 200,000 hectares of the smallholding plantations per year. It is also aimed to improve the sustainability and productivity of smallholding plantations, which currently have only had productivity rate of 3.6 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) per ha per year as compared to the potential oil palm productivity at around 8.0 tons per ha per year.
To realize the replanting target, BPDPKS and all palm oil stakeholders will design a more effective and efficient mechanism in implementing the replanting program for smallholders.
Airlangga noted that in addition to that, the government is still committed to implementing the mandatory program of biodiesel 30 percent (B30) with the target of distributing 9.2 million kiloliters of B30 production this year.
“The government’s commitment is aimed to stabilize price of CPO and maintain the surplus of non-oil and gas trade balance at around 12 percent from the exports of palm oil products and derivatives,” he said.
Airlangga also hopes that through the implementation of the biodiesel mandatory program, the government can realize its target of realizing 23 percent of its national total energy mix contributed from the renewable energy sources in 2025 as stipulated in the national energy policy (KEN). By diversifying the national energy mix away from the fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, the government hopes to contribute to the efforts of reducing carbon emissions as part of solutions to the climate change problem. (*)
Source: KOMPAS.com
