PALMOILMAGAZINE, BALIKPAPAN – East Kalimantan Province is committed to contributing to the plantation sector, particularly in palm oil, to support the development of the non-oil and gas economy. According to the Spatial Plans of East Kalimantan, 3.4 million hectares are allocated for plantations. Of this, 2.1 million hectares have been distributed to 340 plantation permit holders across various regencies and cities, but only 1.3 million hectares have been planted.
Currently, East Kalimantan has 109 palm oil mills with an average applied capacity of about 5,685 tons and an average utilized capacity of about 5,085 tons. It is crucial to evaluate the performance of plantation permit holders to enhance productivity and efficiency.
“Every regency/city should evaluate palm oil plantation companies that got plantation business permit. Even they got the permit, some did not realize the regulation,” Governor in duty of East Kalimantan, Akmal Malik said in the coordination meeting about plantation development in 2024, as Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from the official page of East Kalimantan Province, Wednesday (17/7/2024).
Akmal also mentioned fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production in the province reached 20,7 million tons, crude palm oil (CPO) production reached 4,56 million tons. But the main issue in plantation sector is the obedience to the planting and area utilization. For all these years, the permits were published by the regency/city while the province did assessment if the plantation business obeyed the regulation.
“Palm oil dominates in plantation sectors and becomes the mainstay commoditiy in East Kalimantan, it contributes massively in non-oil and gas sectors, and also as economic progress in non-oil and gas, and coal from the province,” he said.
Head of Plantation Agency East Kalimantan, EA Rafiddin Rizal said that it would be significant for the regency/city to get evaluation in order to escalate plantation performance and confirm area utilization that got the permits.
The 2024 coordination meeting itself in East Kalimantan would be about to formulate comprehensive work frame to support economic progress in the province and in national scale that would be competitive and sustainable. The two day – coordination meeting or on 15 – 16 July would be about to hand over achievement (award) for palm oil plantation developers.
It was attended by about 300 participants, stakeholders in the province, East Kalimantan Legislators, many agencies, plantation developers, plantation association, and agencies that dealt with plantations in many regencies/cities. (P2)
