NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Nov 13): Indonesia plans to open 600,000 hectares of new land for palm oil cultivation to boost stagnant output, a government official said on Thursday, the first announced expansion of plantation area since a moratorium lapsed four years ago.

The move is aimed at increasing production of palm oil to meet estimated higher demand for food and for energy self-sufficiency, Agriculture Ministry official Abdul Roni Angkat told an industry conference on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.

The plan is expected to be implemented over the next four years and will include 400,000 hectares of “plasma” plantation for smallholders, Roni said. The category typically involves smallholder farmers working with a company partner.

The government plans to offer an initial 200,000 hectares of plantation to state firm PalmCo, he said, while adding that private companies would be welcome to participate.

Roni told reporters on the sidelines of the conference that the government will not clear forests for the programme, but did not say what kind of non-forest land would be brought into the programme.

Environmental group Greenpeace said it doubted the claim that the programme will not affect forest cover due to limited available land.

“This will lead to environmental damages, agrarian conflicts and this goes against the government’s commitment to reduce emissions,” Greenpeace campaigner Rio Rompas said.

Palm oil yields declining
The area expansion could provide additional palm oil output of around two million tonnes, Agriculture Ministry official Baginda Siagian estimated.

Palm plantations across Indonesia currently total around 16 million hectares, with an average yield of 3.8 metric tonnes per hectare. The yield has been on a steady decline from above four tonnes per hectare in 2020.

Between 2018 to 2021, Indonesia imposed a moratorium on new palm oil permits to help improve the industry’s image, as producers of the commodity are often accused by environmentalists of causing widespread deforestation.

The government has launched a subsidised replanting scheme for smallholders to improve yield while avoiding opening new areas, but take-up has been slow with only around 400,000 hectares having secured the recommendation for the scheme so far, out of the 2.5 million-hectare target set in 2016.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is planning to increase the mandatory blend of biodiesel to 50% from the current 40% in the second half of next year which likely will reduce the portion available for exports.

Source: The Edge Malaysia