Palm Oil Prices Soar, Oil Palm Farmers Claimed to be More Prosperous
The Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (Apkasindo) stated that the welfare of farmers will increase throughout 2021. This is supported by the increase in the price of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) of palm oil which is influenced by the surge in CPO prices on the global market. Reporting from Antara, Sunday (2/1/2022), Apkasindo Chairman Gulat Manurung, said that the increase in the welfare of oil palm farmers can be seen from various parameters, one of which is the increase in the price of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) where the highest in Riau Province reached Rp. 3,500. /kg. He said that the FFB price throughout 2021 showed an increase of 42.47 percent compared to the average FFB price during 2020. This greatly affected farmers' income and economic activities in oil palm centers. However, he acknowledged that there was a lot of homework related to the process. price-fixing that still occurs diversity and inequality between provinces. Both in the setting of provincial-level pricing and the price-setting issued by palm oil mills. In semester 2 of 2021, Gulati stated, oil palm farmers were surprised by the increase in fertilizer prices which reached 100 percent so that it greatly affected the farmers' cost of production which could have an impact on farmers reducing/delaying fertilization which had implications for a decrease in FFB production next year. FFB prices without being accompanied by an increase in the price of other support elements," he said. In addition to monitoring the level of FFB pricing, the Secretary-General of DPP Apkasindo Rino Afrino added that several achievements that Apkasindo had made during 2021 to improve the welfare of farmers, namely collecting data on oil palm farmers' lands that were claimed to be in forest areas, assistance for community oil palm rejuvenation (PSR), were motivated "In general, Apkasindo 2021 work program has brought oil palm farmers to be equal in partnership and excel in the national upstream and downstream movement of oil palm and the front line against anti-palm oil campaigns," he said. Meanwhile facing 2022, Rino stated that there are still many bigger challenges for oil palm farmers as a whole and associations, including the low absorption of People's Palm Oil Rejuvenation (PSR) funds, the deadline for Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification which is getting closer than the mandatory ISPO 2025 provisions. Apart from I It maintains FFB prices at a balanced level, suppresses the increase in the price of facilities and infrastructure, the slow implementation of the Job Creation Act, and the development of NGOs by involving universities in designing and persuading the government to issue regulations that harm Indonesian palm oil, especially oil palm farmers. Regarding farmers' land, Rino stated, in 2021 the association will proactively activate an inventory of oil palm farmers' land with a total of 42,775 hectares, spread across the provinces of North Sumatra, Riau, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan.
as we all know
Oil palm is an oil-producing plantation plant other than coconut originating from tropical rain forests in West Africa, especially in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Liberia. Oil palm was first discovered by Nicholaas Jacquin in 1763, therefore palm was given the Latin name Elaeis guineensis Jacq.
In Indonesia, oil palm was first introduced as an ornamental plant in the Bogor Botanical Gardens in 1884. Oil palm has many potential uses, both from the stems used for pulping, construction materials, and energy sources. Palm fruit itself has a high economic value and can be a source of income for the country, where palm fruit is used as food oil or non-food oil. Another part of the oil palm plant that can be utilized is coir and even empty bunches. Like other crops, oil palm has several growing conditions to obtain maximum yields and have high selling power. Oil palm is a type of plant with a short irradiation time, which is about 5-7 hours/day, to obtain sufficient light, the spacing between oil palms is 9m x 9m x 9m.
The optimal rainfall for oil palm is 2000-2500 mm/year, with an optimal temperature of 24-28°C. This plant grows at an altitude of 0-500 meters above sea level. Oil palm can grow on Podzolic, Latosol, Hydromorphic Gray, Alluvial or Regosol soil types, capric peat soils. Oil palm production is higher when planted in areas with Podzolic soils when compared to sandy and peat soils. (Sudarminto Setyo Yuwono, 2015)
The Latin name for oil palm is Elaeis guineensis Jacq, while internationally, oil palm is better known as African Oil Palm. The following is a classification of oil palm, Kingdom: Plantae; Sub Kingdom: Viridiplantae; Infra Kingdom: Streptophyta; Super Division: Embryophyta; Division: Tracheophyta; Sub Division: Spermatophytina; Class: Magnoliopsida; Order: Arecales; Family: Arecaceae; Subfamily: Cocoideae; Genus: Elaeis Jacq; Species: E. guineensis Jacq.
Indonesia cultivates several varieties of oil palm plants that can provide high economic value for the country. The main varieties cultivated include E. guineensis and E. oleifera. In general, these two types of oil palm have their respective advantages, but the one that is often cultivated in Indonesia is E. Guineensis.
The advantage possessed by E. guineensis is its higher productivity compared to other vegetable oil crops. Meanwhile, the superiority of the E. oleifera species is its lower physical form, which is based on the size and height of the plant.
Judging from the thickness of the shell of oil palm fruit can be divided into three types of plants, namely:
a. Dura is an oil palm that has fruit with a thick shell and has an oil content of approximately 18% per bunch.
b. Pisifera is an oil palm with fruit that does not have a shell so it does not produce economical oil, and this type has sterile female flowers.
c. Tenera is the fruit of a cross from a female dura palm fruit and a male fruit. This type of tenera fruit is often cultivated by oil palm plantation farmers because it has advantages that complement the shortcomings of the dura and pisifera types. The fruit shell is thin, but the flowers are still fertile. The oil content contained in each bunch is approximately 28%, thus providing a fairly high economic value for food or non-food oil production. In addition, palm oil has the potential to be a source of biodiesel feedstock. The oil palm used comes from people's and private plantations. The condition of smallholder plantations for oil palm plantations is almost the same as other smallholder plantations, with lower productivity compared to private plantations, but with a larger area of land. The productivity of smallholder plantations is around 3 tons of CPO/Ha/year, while the productivity of private plantations is around 3-4 tons/CPO/Ha/year.
Oil palm areas that are suitable for use as a source area for biodiesel raw materials are areas that are feasible and can be improved. Improvements that are prioritized are improvements in institutional development through the institutional adoption process. The main use of palm oil is the oil produced from the fruit itself. Indonesia is the largest palm oil producer in the world and has a market share of 85%. According to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, foreign exchange from palm oil in 2020 reached US$ 22.9 billion with an export volume of 34 million tons.
The existence of very large oil palm plantations, it can reduce the unemployment rate around plantation areas in Indonesia. Employment of labor in oil palm plantations from time to time has always increased very well. Oil palm plantations are very effective for labor absorption activities and reduce unemployment problems. (author: Asri Nurrizka Hendarliana, Department of Agribusiness 2017, Faculty of Agriculture UNPAD)