JAKARTA – Indonesia has become the world’s largest producer of palm oil since 2006, commanding a share of 59 percent at the global market of palm oil. As a result, the palm oil industries have become one of the main contributors to Indonesia’s foreign exchange earnings, and play a very important role in Indonesian economy.
Being the global market leader, outcompeting other vegetable oils such as soybean and sunflower, the palm oil has often become the target of negative campaigns by certain groups, especially those who want to beat it at the increasingly competitive global market.
The negative campaigns have been launched systematically and massively. Issues often raised in the negative campaigns are concerned with health and environmental issues. The negative campaigns have not only affected the palm oil businesses nationally and globally, but also negated the factuality of palm oil itself as plantation commodity.
Actually, a number of studies have been conducted to counter the negative campaigns. The studies have proven the negative campaigns wrong and provide necessary clarifications for the general public.
Palm Oil and Risk of Diseases
One of the myths created through the negative campaigns is concerned with health issue due to high content of saturated fatty acids. The accusation was first leveled by the American Soybean Association (AS), which pioneered an anti-tropical oil movement in 1980s.
The saturated fatty acids were reported causing the heart disease and cancer. But scientifically, studies conducted by nutritionists have concluded that palm oil contains a balance of saturated and unsaturated fats, which make it not only safe to consume but also create health benefits for human body.
The study by Hariyadi P has proven that the proportion of saturated fatty acids in palm oil is around 50 percent, and the rest is unsaturated fatty acids. Even other studies have categorized the palm oil as monounsaturated oils.
The studies have also concluded that palm oil is rich in natural antioxidants, such as vitamin A, E, and beta-carotene, which are also known effective in preventing heart disease. The vitamin A content of palm oil is 15 times higher than that of carrot, and almost 100 times of banana.
The palm oil also contains vitamin E, which is higher than other vegetable oils, such as soybean, suflower, and corn oil.
The studies also scientifically debunked the myth that says the palm oil as the cause of cancer. The palm oil contains tocotrienols, parts of vitamin E with antioxidant properties which can fight free radicals and cancer.
A new study by Zainal (2002) shows that the rich content of tocotrienols in palm oil is not only able to prevent cancer, but also other diseases, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, stroke and skin damage.
Apparently, based on the studies, such health risks are not caused by the content of palm oil, but resulted from the wrong use of cooking oil from palm oil. Repeat uses of palm cooking oil at temperature of 160-180 decrees Celsius trigger toxidation reaction, which reduces the cooking oil quality and forms free radicals harmful to human health.
Considering the facts, then it is necessary to pursue efforts of educating the public on the proper way to use cooking oil to maximize its health benefits while preventing risks of diseases.
Palm Plantations Cause Arid Lands
The negative campaigns also mentioned that oil palm plantations have turned surrounding areas into barren lands because of palm voracity in water use. If the claim is true, then the land areas used for palm cultivation since 1980s should have become desert areas. But in fact, the same land areas are still productive until now.
In reality, oil palm trees have the exceptional capacity to maintain soil moisture and are not as voracious as accused in water use. Scientifically, oil palm trees can adapt to various kinds of lands, even less fertile lands.
Compared to other oil crops, such as soybean and sunflower, the oil palm trees are actually more efficient in water use as shown by their resulted water footprint. The water footprint is the total volume of water used by agriculture commoditis from planting to harvesting.
Based on researches, to produce the same amount of oil, the water footprint of palm oil is around 4,971 m3/ton, which is lower than that of sunflower oil and olive oil.
The same result was seen from the water footprint of biodiesel production. Producing 1.0 liter of biodiesel from soybean and sunflower needs 11.4 thousand liters and 15.8 thousand liters respectively. But by using palm oil, producing the same amount of oil will only need 5.2 thousand liters of water, which is the most efficient among other oils.
In addition to that, oil palm trees have a good root system as they have massive, broad and deep fibrous roots, creating natural bio-pore system and
enabling them to absorb and store rainwater. The natural bio-pore system increases the capacity of oil palm plantations to absorb water and reduce run-offs on the surface.
The layered palm fronds and leaves are also able to protect land surface from direct hit of rainwater. That way, the palm plantations help maintain land structure and reduce the risk of erosion.
Infographic of ignored truth of palm oil. tirto.id/Mojo
Causing Deforestation
Palm oil industries are often accused as the main cause of deforestation and global environmental damage. But green efforts pursued by Indonesia as the world’s largest producer of palm oil to ensure the sustainability of the palm oil industries have been frequently ignored.
Indonesia has implemented a policy on sustainability certification system called Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), which is like the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil).
The RSPO is a global initiative to apply sustainability certification to ensure that palm oil production will not cause damages to primary forests or lands with high conservation value.
The ISPO is a system of sustainability certification designed by the Indonesian government for palm oil industries and smallholders to meet the standard of national sustainability.
Compared to other vegetable oils, the palm oil is unbeatable in terms of efficiency, versatility and productivity. In producing one ton of oil, oil palm trees only need much less land areas compared to other oil crops to produce the same amount of oil. It means that fulfilling the global demand for vegetable oils with only palm oil, then it will only need much less land areas for cultivation, resulting in much lower deforestation.
Scientific studies have concluded that by applying good practices of cultivation based on principles of sustainability, palm oil has big potential as sustainable sources of foods, and energy, as it excels in efficiency, versatility and productivity. (*)
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Tirto.id. (2024). Di Balik Kontroversi Minyak Sawit: Kebenaran yang Terabaikan. https://tirto.id/di-balik-kontroversi-minyak-sawit-kebenaran-yang-terabaikan-g5hx : 31 Oktober 2024
