Indonesia vows to solve palm oil replanting problems to boost yields
Source: Xinhua | 2018-01-19

According to the Agriculture ministry - Indonesia has set a replanting plan for 4.7 million hectares of palm oil plantation in the country aimed at boosting yields. Many of the palm oil plantations have been aging and have low seeds quality with many of them belonging to smallholders. Smallholder farmers play a very important role as they make up for almost half of Indonesia’s palm oil plantations.

To meet the rising demand for palm oil in the coming decades without further deforestaton, smallholders urgently need to replant and improve productivity on existng plots by adopting more sustainable practices.

How are plantation companies supporting smallholders in this endeavor ?

Asian Agri, a leading palm oil producer has taken an admirable step to partner with smallholders , giving grants for farmers to obtain RSPO certification. It is currently running a One to One Commitment program, which sees the company matching each hectare of its own land with one hectare of land owned by smallholders by the end of 2018.

Perceived high risks and costs of agricultural lending deter banks and investors from providing finance to smallholders.
What replanting financing schemes are there to help smallholders ?

Will EU ban of palm oil biodiesel affect palm oil trade significantly ?

The Malaysian government is calling for palm oil producers to start looking into new export markets and promote the use of palm oil in other ways while Indonesia has announced plans to increase palm oil domestic biodiesel usage to the mining sector. While this issue is addressed with urgency, the presence of 3MCPD and Glycidyl esters in refined vegetable oils, including palm oil, could become an even bigger headache for the industry.

What measures are taken by MPOB to address the food safety issues effectively ?

What subsidies are available to the Indonesian mining sector for use of palm oil biodiesel and when is the implementation expected to take effect ?

Digitalizing & innovations to transform the palm oil industry.

Despite their massive potential, it is challenging to apply emerging technologies to its work in a multi-stakeholder supply chain. From using sensors to monitor oil palm plantations to harnessing the potential of digitalisation in a complex palm oil supply chain more ,technology will be the key to sustainable palm oil.

Hear from IJM Plantations on how the company focusses on inculcating the culture of innovation and continuous improvement within its organization, while not compromising on their many ongoing sustainability-related initiatives.

Celebrating its 10th series, CMT welcomes palm oil stakeholders from top executives to operational directors and sustainability heads to convene in Bali this July to discuss real on-going issues & challenges facing the industry. 

Key highlights 

• Palm path in 2018-19 -will it be more politicized
• Intensifying domestic biodiesel consumption & expanding usage to the mining sector
• Realizing the oil palm rejuvenation program in Riau & challenges
• Partnership with smallholders to improve efficiency – Asian Agri perspective
• Stakeholder engagement – key to driving sustainability and innovations in the palm oil sector – IJM Plantations perspective
• Digitalizing & transforming oil palm plantation management to increase yield and improve field monitoring
• Recent developments in tackling 3-MCPD & Glycidol food safety issues in palm oil
• Palm oil markets in Pakistan and the Middle East
• World's first palm-based commercial scale bio-compressed natural gas plant
• Protecting Indonesia’s peat ecosystem – Katingan Mentaya project
• Landscaping integration with oil palm plantations – Case study in Kalimantan
• Recent trials & successes with Felda’s 3 Way Cross in close density planting
• New developments in pre-nursery seed testing 
• Developments in innovative financing schemes for smallholders