Jakarta – The Indonesian government needs to issue a special law on palm oil with a view to protecting the strategic top commodity which plays a very significant role in of the national economy of Indonesia, a legislator said.

“Contributing foreign exchange up to Rp600 trillion from its exports, the palm oil commodity deserves special attention and should be legally protected with the issuance of special law on the strategic commodity,” the house of representatives’ (DPR) Commission IV Member Firman Soebagyo said during a seminar organized by the Alumni Association of Brawijaya University (UB) in Malang on Thursday, 10 August 2023.

According to Firman, Indonesia badly needs to issue a special law on the strategic commodity of palm oil as part of efforts to maintain the availability and affordability of foods and energy and to support the national economy.

Firman said that Indonesia should emulate other countries which have applied special laws to protect their strategic top products. Those countries include Turkey which applies a law on tobacco, Japan which applies law on rice, the USA which applies laws on soybean, cotton, corn, and wheat.

“Even Malaysia has long had a special institution to manage its palm oil industry comprehensively,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dean of Economics and Business Faculty at Brawijaya University, Abdul Ghofar said that oil palm trees are the most productive oil plants compared to other vegetable oils.

“Of the world’s total areas used for producing vegetable oils, oil palm plantation area only accounts for 10 percent. But palm oil production contributes 39 percent to the world’s total production of vegetable oils,” he said.

He said until 2022, the world’s total areas of oil palm plantations were only 24.259 million hectares, while soybean plantation areas reached 132.8 million hectares. Oil palm plantations can produce 3.2 tons of palm oil per hectare per year, as compared to soybean at only 0.5 ton per hectare per year.

Considering the fact, it is not fair to accuse the palm oil production as the cause of deforestation. “Conversely, the palm oil can be a solution to reduce the carbon emissions. The oil palm trees are able to absorb carbon dioxide at maximum level compared to other oil plants,” he said.

According to him, the palm oil plays a very important role in fulfilling the needs for foods and energy in Indonesia. “The key factor for the sovereignty of a country is the availability and affordability of foods and energy sources for its people,” he said. (*)

Source: sawitku.id