JAKARTA – Papua has been selected by the anti-palm oil groups since the last few years as one of their targeted provinces to launch their negative campaigns against Indonesia’s palm oil.
The Association of Indonesian Palm Oil Smallholders’ (Apkasindo) Papua Office Head Albert Yoku said that the oil palm plantations in Papua province have five functions, namely ecology, forestry, economy, social-culture, and uniter of nation.
“Many NGOs in Papua are in cooperation with the Greenpeace. They are very active in launching negative campaigns against the palm oil,” he said during a webinar on “Strengthening the Role of Palm Oil in Eradicating Poverty in Eastern Indonesia” on Monday, 12 April 2021.
He said that to counter the negative campaigns, Apkasindo Papua has been very active in promoting the positive sides of palm oil and educating the public on the aspects of ecology, forestry, and other related aspects of the palm oil, especially among tribal societies and other stakeholders who are not familiar with the issues of palm oil. “Our challenges are concerned with efforts to prevent misperception on palm oil among the tribal societies. We also need to further educate the oil palm smallholders, so that they know the good agricultural practices in developing their plantations and get better understanding on the benefits of palm oil nationally and globally,” he said.
Yoku noted that the oil palm plantations in Papua are located in eight regencies with a total acreage of around 600,000 hectares. The total number of smallholders is around 22,000 people, comprising of plasma smallholders, Cooperatives-based (KKPA) Smallholders, and independent ones. There is also the state-owned plantation company PTPN II which operates around 6,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in in Keerom regency.
“We hope that the 22,000 smallholders will become the focus of development in eastern Indonesia. They need assistances and privileges from the central and regional governments,” said Albert Yoku. (*)
Source: wartaekonomi.co.id | Featured image via ceposonline.com
