TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Commentary: Relying on smallholders for future palm oil growth
Currently, smallholders’ productivity is the biggest problem in the industry.
Change Size
Currently, smallholders’ productivity is the biggest problem in the industry. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
hree unrelated events happened in October and November; each points to the future of palm oil production from different perspectives, and each draws attention to the fate of smallholders.
The first event was in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra, where President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched an oil palm replanting program for over 4,400 hectares of plantations belonging to smallholders.
The aim of the program was obvious: to increase the productivity of smallholders and thus, improve their welfare. Currently, smallholders’ productivity is the biggest problem in the industry.
Around the same time, a Gecko Project investigation report on “The Making of a Palm Oil Fiefdom” was released. The ninemonth investigation delved into land deals, corruption, power and politics behind the development of oil palm plantations in Seruyan district, Central Kalimantan.
The report details how big oil palm plantation companies get their land in a democratic Indonesia, and when they want to develop plantations for their plasma smallholders, as demanded by locals, the land is no longer available (see www.thegeckoproject.org).
The fate of smallholders was again discussed in the 13th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference (IPOC) over the weekend, the world’s biggest event for palm oil players.
Organized by big plantation companies grouped in the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI), the conference was interestingly themed, “Growth Through Productivity: Partnerships with Smallholders.”
