JAKARTA – Indonesia will intensify the implementation of oil palm replanting program with the target set at 180,000 hectares this year, a senior government official said.
Musdhalifah Machmud, Deputy in charge of foods and agribusiness coordination at the economic coordinating ministry, said that Indonesia, the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, has launched a replanting program of oil palm plantations for smallholders since five years ago. Subsidized by the government, the program is aimed to increase palm oil production at the existing plantations, or without opening new areas of plantations, as a way to raise the smallholders’ productivity and sustainability.
“We also want to counter the negative campaigns against the palm oil as if it is not sustainable. By implementing the replanting program, we show that oil palm cultivation is based on the principles of sustainability,” she said during a meeting of government officials and oil palm growers in Jakarta on Monday.
The replanting program is also implemented to address the challenges posed by the European Union (EU) through its issuance of a new law on deforestation-free products that will require all companies to prove through traceability documents that their agricultural or forestry products they export and import into the European market did not cause deforestation or planted in bare lands after 2020.
According to her, initially in 2017 when the replanting program was launched, the target was to replant 2.4 million hectares until 2025. But due to slow implementation, the government revised down the target in 2019 to only 180,000 hectares per year. “And still it is not yet realized. From 2017 until now, only around 278,000 hectares that had been replanted,” Musdhalifah said.
She said that currently the government has simplified the procedures of replanting program with the hope of accelerating its implementation. “All private oil palm companies should involve in this replanting program, and all stakeholders should intensify their coordination to ensure that the replanting program is well implemented. Its target to replant 180,000 hectares per year should be realized,” she said.
She said that the smallholders own around 40% of the total 16.02 million hectares of Indonesia’s oil palm plantations. “But the smallholders’ productivity is still low at the average of 2.5 tons of palm oil per hectare per year. It should be raised to 6 – 8 tons per hectare per year,” said Musdhalifah. (*)
Source: WartaSidoarjo.com/pikiran-rakyat.com
