JAKARTA A proposal to expand the acreage of land used for palm oil production, in response to growing demand for biodiesel in Indonesia, has raised concerns that this could increase the risk of smogcausing forest and plantation fires.
The far-flung province of Papua, one of the country’s least developed, has been named as one of the possible locations for the new oil palm land bank.
Demand for palm oil has been steadily rising in Indonesia, in particular due to its use in the manufacture of biofuel, a renewable, biodegradable fuel. Biofuel is blended with regular diesel to make biodiesel, which is used in the transport sector as well as industry.
Domestic palm oil consumption for both food and energy saw growth of 14.7 per cent in 2022 and 7 per cent in 2021, while output in the past four years has been flat.
Data from the Indonesian Palm Oil Association Gapki) shows that domestic consumption jumped to 21.1 million tonnes in 2022 from 18.4 million tonnes in the previous year. It stood at 16.7 million tonnes in 2019.
The flatlining production, coupled with surging consumption, prompted Gapki chairman Eddy Martono to propose in 2023 that Indonesia expand land earmarked for palm oil production in Papua, with state-owned companies being given the task to operate the plantations.
Officials at the Agriculture Ministry, The Straits Times understands, support this idea on the back of President Joko Widodo’s commitment to achieving a higher blend of biofuel in biodiesel.
この記事は The Straits Times の January 27, 2024 版に掲載されています。
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