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Oil palm tree growers to enjoy simpler access to assistance
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo plants a young oil palm to kick off a tree replanting program in Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra, on Oct. 13, 2018. (Courtesy of/The Indonesian Palm Oil Association ( GAPKI) )
T
he government will simplify requirements for oil palm smallholders to access assistance for the replacement of their old trees through the people's oil palm tree replanting program after the meager realization of the program in 2018.
Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDP-KS) director Herdrajat Natawijaya said the move was based on an instruction from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
“For that, we cut the number of requirements from 27 to 10,” said Herdrajat as reported by kontan.co.id in Palembang on Thursday.
Last year, the government targeted to replace oil palm trees in 185,000 hectares of plantations, but it was only implemented in 12,622 ha.
Speaking about the meager implementation of the program in 2018, Hendrajat said it was because of technical issues, particularly because most of the technical recommendations for the program were only received by the BPDP-KS late last year.
Meanwhile, Musi Banyuasin Regent Dodi Reza Alex Noerdin expressed hope that the replanting program of oil palm trees in the regency in South Sumatra would be more successful this year because the majority of the people relied on palm oil.
He said palm oil had improved the welfare of people in the regency, therefore he would take part in fighting back against the negative campaign against palm oil. “The fact is that oil palm trees make this area greener and have eradicated poverty,” he added. (bbn)
