NUSA DUA: Indonesia in the first nine months this year approved 33,190 hectares (82,014.28 acres) of palm oil area to be replanted under a subsidised programme for small farms, the head of the palm oil fund said on Thursday.
Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, launched smallholders palm replanting scheme in 2016 and had initially targeted to replant around 2.5 million hectares of old trees by 2025.
The programme was aimed at boosting output without clearing more forest.
However, progress has been slow due to administrative constraints.
The additional approved area this year brought the total approval to 306,000 hectares since its launch, of which only about two-thirds have been replanted.
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The replanting programme is critical to maintain Indonesia’s palm oil output growth, head of Indonesia’s palm oil fund (BPDPKS) Eddy Abdurrachman told an industry conference in Bali.
“In 2025 it is projected, without replanting, the crude palm oil production will only reach around 44 million metric tons and will continue to decline in the coming years,” Abdurrachman said.
The agency is in charge of subsidising the replanting scheme.
Indonesia produced 46.72 million tons of crude palm oil last year.
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