Kompas, 4 December 2018
According to latest palm oil industry data published by Statistics Indonesia, only 2.34 million hectares out of a total 14.31 million hectares of oil palm plantations in the country had obtained the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certificate as of October 2018. Overlapping land titles has been the issue hindering many plantations from obtaining the certificate. Many plantations are working on lands that are classified as forest.
In order to verify plantation status and unravel the overlapping land titles, President Joko Widodo had issued Presidential Instruction No.8/2018 on Moratorium and Evaluation of Oil Palm Plantation Permit and Productivity Improvement of Oil Palm Plantations. The policy took effect on September 19, 2018.
Legal status of oil palm plantations is an important aspect to develop sustainable oil palm plantation industry, considering that 5.81 million hectares out of 14.31 million hectares of oil palm plantations are managed by smallholders. In addition, private companies manage 7.79 million hectares of oil palm plantations, while state-owned companies manage 713,120 hectares of oil palm plantations.