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<\/p>\nJAKARTA \u2013 A total of 2.4 million hectares of oil palm plantations are threatened to stop production as a result of the government\u2019s legal whitewashing program as an implementation of the omnibus law on job creation (UUCK). The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) Chairman Eddy Martono said that of the total 3.4 million hectares of oil palm plantations suspected to have encroached forest areas, around 2.4 million hectares are subjected to the implementation of the law\u2019s article 110B, which only allows plantations found in forest areas without legal documents to continue for just one cycle of cultivation and after that they will be reforested. \u201cThe legal whitewashing program does not benefit the palm oil industries,\u201d Eddy said.<\/p>\n
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He said that those plantations found encroaching forest areas wihout having cultivation rights (HGU) are required to return to the government after one cycle of cultivation, which is 25 years. “For example, if those plantations are already in cultivation for 15 years, then their growers will only have another 10 years for cultivation, as one cycle of cultivation is 25 years. That means after 10 years they have to return their plantations to the government,” Eddy said during a GAPKI Halal Bihalal (Eid Al-Fitr Gathering) in Jakarta, recently.<\/p>\n
Eddy said that most of oil palm plantations in Indonesia were planted during the period of 2005 – 2007. \u201cIt means the 2.4 million hectares can only be in production for the maximum of 8.0 years ahead. With average production of 3.0 tons of palm oil per hectare per year, then just multiply it with the total acreage of 2.4 million Ha. That\u2019s the potential loss of our production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Besides, the oil palm growers whose plantations encroachig the forest areas will be fined at around Rp100 – Rp130 million per hectare. But in fact, he said the growers have already had various licenses, such as location permit, plantation business license (IUP), and even HGU or certificate of ownership (SHM).\u00a0 Eddy reminded that the palm oil industries are the biggest contributor of foreign exchange in Indonesia and employ more than 16 million workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people\u2019s lives are at stake due to this policy. I\u2019m afraid this will trigger a social conflict in the future,\u201d he said. Previously, the palm oil task force (Satgas Sawit) has targeted that reporting of the oil palm plantation legalization will be completed in September 2024. The Head of UUCK Implementation Supervisory Team under the Satgas Sawit, Bambang Hendroyono said that a total of 365 companies have already filed proposals of legal whitewashing for their plantations.<\/p>\n
“We target 2,130 oil palm plantation companies, and 1,493 palm smallholders,” Bambang said during the national conference of sustainable palm plantation action plan on Thursday (28\/03\/2024).\u00a0The Satgas Sawit was set up by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) with the aim to improve the governance of Indonesia\u2019s palm oil industries based on prevailing regulations, and establish a well-managed data on oil palm plantations owned by companies, cooperatives, and smallholders.<\/p>\n
The legal whitewashing is implemented as part of efforts to resolve the problems of oil palm plantations based on article 110 A and 110 B of the omnibus law (UUCK). The problems are also concerned with rampant cases of overlapping of plantation licenses and forest areas.\u00a0(*)<\/p>\n