PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – Indonesia’s palm oil sector continues to face significant challenges. Many plantations are now managed by second- and third-generation owners, encountering issues such as declining productivity and increased disease prevalence.
Mula Putra, Coordinator of the Directorate for Palm Oil and Other Plants at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Directorate General of Plantations, highlighted ongoing issues such as aging trees, disease outbreaks, and pest infestations.
“As trees age, plantations become more susceptible to diseases like blast disease, bud rot syndrome, Ganoderma, and Fusarium oxysporum, which causes yellowing on leaves. These diseases often emerge within five years of replanting,” Mula explained during the “Biodiesel Sustainability Discussion” event in Jakarta on Thursday, October 24, 2024, attended by Palmoilmagazine.com.
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Diseases typically affect plantations older than 25 years, necessitating replanting efforts. Additionally, low adoption of good agricultural practices and limited skilled human resources pose barriers. “Planters, both individuals and organizations, often lack the necessary capacity and skills,” Mula added.
Legal compliance remains another challenge for smallholders, as many lack essential land certificates, cultivation permits, and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification. Some plantations even overlap with forest areas, complicating legal and sustainability issues.
Other obstacles include inefficient processing mechanisms and a lengthy supply chain, which reduce fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yields and impact income. To address this, the government plans to promote side-product utilization, which remains underexplored.
To solve these, the government would encourage SRP to improve unproductive plantations, would improve the infrastructures, intensify the plantations, and provide better. These would be the same action by increasing their capacity through scholarship and trainings for the planters.
Getting data through cultivation document, he continued, would improve FFB governance and the smallholders’ income. The government would encourage intercrops and take advantages on palm oil to multiply their income as well.
Mula Putra was optimist that by these, the smallholders’ plantation productivity could be reaching 30 – 40 tons FFB per hectare with the yield about 23 – 25%. It is hoped to support palm oil biodiesel program and escalate their welfare in Indonesia. (P2)
