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Better resolution needed amid decades of palm oil conflicts: Research
Most observed conflicts were triggered by land grabbing for oil palm plantations and the plasma smallholder scheme.
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A worker harvests fresh oil palm fruit in Pangkalan Bun, East Kalimantan, in December 2015. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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esearchers have urged authorities in West Kalimantan to develop better schemes to resolve conflicts surrounding the palm oil business as the region has been marred by decades of unsolved conflicts and ineffective resolution mechanisms.
About 66 percent of conflicts related to palm oil in West Kalimantan in the last two decades have yet to be resolved, according to a report recently issued by the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). Moreover, most conflicts took an average of five years to be resolved.
Resolving palm oil conflicts in West Kalimantan is deemed important as the province is the second-biggest palm oil producer in the country with 1.8 million hectares of plantations after Riau, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2019. Palm oil is also a major driver of the region’s economy.
KITLV collaborated with Wageningen University in the Netherlands, Andalas University in West Sumatra and local civil groups. The research investigated 32 out of 69 identified conflicts in the province within the last 20 years.
According to the research, most observed conflicts were triggered by land grabbing for oil palm plantations and the plasma smallholder scheme, in which farmers would sell their produce to a plantation company.
“The conflicts have significantly affected the pockets of not only local communities but also the companies. Finding ways to resolve the conflicts is an urgent but not easy task,” KITLV senior researcher Ward Berenschot said during a webinar on Jan. 19.
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