JAKARTA – Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto formally opened the national meeting of oil palm smallholders on Thursday (7/12) by underlining the important role of oil palm smallholders in developing Indonesian palm oil industry.
He said that the palm oil has become Indonesia’s top export commodity with a total value reaching US$29.66 billion in 2022. According to him, besides the contribution of oil palm companies, the high export is also contributed by smallholders.
“Palm oil is our top export commodity. In 2022, palm oil exports reached US$29.66 billion. It’s the biggest contributor of our exports together with nickel,” the minister said during the opening ceremony of smallholders’ national meeting organized by the Association of Indonesian Oil Palm Smallholders (APKASINDO) in Jakarta on Thursday (7/12).
But he urged the smallholders to increase their productivity through various programs, which include the replanting program sponsored by the government.
“Averagely, the productivity of smallholders is only at 2.6-3 tons per hectare per year. It can be raised through the replanting program. During the last five years (2018-2023) a total of 300,000 hectares owned by 134,000 smallholders had been replanted with a total fund of Rp8.5 trillion,” said Airlangga.
During the same occasion, APKASINDO Chairman Gulat Manurung has asked the environment and forestry ministry (KLHK) to support the smallholders in implementing the replanting program. “The biggest obstacle facing the smallholders in implementing the replanting program is the policy of KLHK that still categorizes many plantations areas of smallholders as part of forest area. But according to the omnibus law on job creation (UUCK) all plantation areas existing before 2020 are legally categorized as plantation areas.
“84 of 100 replanting proposals filed by smallholders have always failed due to their classification in forest areas. We would like to ask for the attention of KLHK to the UUCK which accommodates the interests of smallholders with plantation areas of less than 5 hectares and age of more than 5 years. We need your circular letter to support the stipulation,” Gulat said when addressing the APKASINDO national meeting on Thursday (7/12).
He said that accommodating the stipulation set in the UUCK will support the Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Board (BPDPKS) in realizing the target of replanting at 180,000 hectares per year as instructed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
He said without the help of the KLHK many smallholders will have to continually rely on their old palm trees, which have a much lower productivity compared to that of the oil palm companies at the average of 5 tons of palm oil per hectare per year. (*)
Source: sawitindonesia.com
