JAKARTA: — Indonesia has become the world’s largest producer of palm oil since 2006 after exceeding the production of Malaysia which was the largest producer in the world. The palm oil is one of many kinds of vegetable oils, which is the most produced and consumed in the world.
Almost all of products that we use every day in the forms of oleofood, oleochemical, and biofuel are produced by using the palm oil.
Considering the fact, it is no wonder that the palm oil has been always singled out as the target of negative campaigns. But there is no denying that the global demand for palm oil has shown a tendency of rising from year to year along with the growth of global population and their income as the main factors that increase the consumption of products based on palm oil.
The oil palm plantations have also opened chances for millions of people to work or own businesses in the sector. It is because the oil palm plantations need human resources with a wide range of skills and education backgrounds.
The oil palm plantations offer many varieties of positions from plantation managers, mill managers, plantation assistants, mill assistants, experts on pests and diseases, assistants in charge of pests and diseases, and many others. This is not to mention other opportunities offered outside of the oil palm plantations, such as the palm oil trading, palm oil processing industries in mid-stream industries, and downstream industries that produce cooking oil, butter, shampoo, toothpaste, cosmetics and others.
Besides benefiting people in cities, the palm oil industries also bring positive impacts to people in remote areas as almost all of the oil palm plantations are located in remote areas. The people in remote areas get benefited by becoming workers in the plantations or suppliers of foods, clothes, or other products and services needed by the plantations and their workers.
PASPI Monitor, an independent research institution, reported that the palm oil business is the kind of business that always brings blessings to people, especially people living around the oil palm plantations in remote areas. “By purchasing products of palm oil, people in cities have indirectly helped people working in the oil palm plantations and those living around the plantations in the remote areas,” PASPI said in its report. (*)
Source: wartaekonomi.co.id | Featured image via eco-business.imgix.net