Palm oil producers have urged the government to reassess a plan to impose a two-year moratorium on new concessions claiming they are struggling with unproductive land that has limited their ability to increase production.

Speaking at a forum in Jakarta on Thursday, Joko Supriyono, secretary-general of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki), said the palm oil industry, due to several “technical problems”, could only utilize half of the land it had concessions for.

These problems stemmed from the various land conditions in concession areas, he said. Some of the land was either rocky or simply unfit for plantations, while some were inhibited by people, Joko said.