JAKARTA – Palm Oil Plantations of smallholders have for the first time exceeded in surface those operated by large companies in Indonesia in 2017, the Association of Indonesian Palm Oil Producers (GAPKI) said on Monday, January 8, 2018, quoting an independent, non-profit think thank on palm oil issues.
Indonesian palm oil plantation covered some 16 million hectares in 2017 and plantations of farmers, or smallholders, account for 53 percent of the total, a report of the think thank, PASPI, carried by GAPKI on its website, said.
The figure meant that for the first time, farmers’ palm oil plantations have now overtaken in surface, those operated by large companies in the country.
The same report said that farmers’ plantations accounted for two percent of the total surface of palm oil plantation in 1980, 26 percent, a decade later and 41 percent in 2016.
The PASPI report also carried a forecast that said that by 2030, farmers’ plantations are expected to account for 60 percent of the total.
Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer, as well as consumer. Indonesia and Malaysia, the second largest palm oil producer, together account for some 85 percent of the world’s palm oil supply.