Jakarta – The palm oil industries have significantly contributed to the social, economic and ecological development of villages around oil palm plantations across Indonesia.
“Generally, villages with oil palm plantations are superior in terms of social, economic and ecological development than other villages without the oil palm plantations,” The Palm Oil Agribusiness Strategic Policy Institute (PASPI) Executive Director Tungkot Sipayung told participants of the Borneo Forum V in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan on Thursday.
Tungkot said that PASPI made the conclusion based on its research in eight provinces, which are the largest producers of palm oil in Indonesia. The selection of oil palm villages is based on data of potential villages in 2018, which is related to the data of village development index (IDM) 2015, 2020 and 2021.
Based on the research data, Tungkot stated that there are a number of implications. First, villages with oil palm plantations are superior to other villages without oil palm plantations in terms of economy and sustainability. Second, all views that state oil palm plantations create various social and ecological problems in villages are not supported by facts.
“Developing oil palm plantations is the right choice and best solution to simultaneously develop villages, especially those of least developed, remote and frontier ones, from the aspects of social, economy and ecology,” said Tungkot.
Concurring with Tungkot, Bank Indonesia’s (BI) Kalimantan Office Deputy Magfur said that the palm oil industry plays a very important role in Kalimantan economy.
In the structure of Kalimantan economy, the agriculture and processing industries are the largest sectors after mining sector in Kalimantan. Central Kalimantan is the largest producer of palm oil in Kalimantan, followed by West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and North Kalimantan. The palm oil is the main export commodity of Kalimantan after coal and lignite.
“The current development of palm oil industry has increased the welfare of oil palm smallholders as indicated by the continual increase of the farmers’ exchange rate in the plantation sector,” concluded Magfur. (*)
Source: ANTARA
