PALM OIL INDUSTRY SEEKING CLARITY ON MORATORIUM

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, June 12 (ANTARA) - The government's plan to impose a moratorium on  developmental activity  on peat land and primary forest areas as a follow-up to an Indonesia-Norway forest conservation agreement has prompted the oil palm plantation business community to ask for official clarity on which areas can or cannot be developed.          "We support the government's plan to impose a moratorium on the opening up of peat lands but we expect very much that the government would provide a clear stipulation  on which areas can  be developed and which cannot," Widya Wiryawan, president director of PT Astra Agro Lestari said on Saturday.           Earlier, the government said it would not allow development of oil palm plantations on peat land in an effort to increase palm oil production. "No further development of oil palm plantations will be allowed on peat land or primary forests," Agriculture Minister Suswono said on Friday.          He said the government would focus on increasing the productivity of current plantations rather than conducting expansions.          The agriculture minister said the government had so far produced licenses for the development of 9.8 million hectares of oil palm plantations in the country but so far only 7.9 million hectares had been realized and so 1.9 million hectares more still had to be developed.          In this case, the oil palm industry has asked the government to be more explicit about  its plan to impose the moratorium on oil palm development on peat lands. According to Widya Wirawan, the oil palm industry at home supported the proposal of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to declare a moratorium on  oil palm development so that  natural  forest and peat land could be sustained.          He said the moratorium was actually intended for the issuance of new licenses for  development of oil palm plantations on peat lands and primary forests.          Besides, the moratorium would be effective only after January 2011, and basically national oil palm industries would not question the regulations the government was going to issue provided  there were clear stipulations.          Wiryasan said it had often happened that  central government regulations did not match those issued by regional governments causing confusion among businessmen.          Virtually, he said,  the acreage of existing oil palm plantations in the country was far smaller than the available forest land. The country's oil palm plantations covered only seven million hectares while the acreage of forest areas reached 100 million hectares.          "After all, oil palm plantation development in Indonesia began much later than the logging business or forest concession businesses that have existed for a long time," he said.          In view of that, Minister Suswono said the planned moratorium of oil palm plantation development in 2011-2013 would not disrupt national crude palm oil production.          The minister said the ban on oil palm plantation development on peat land was effective only for new license holders while those that have held the license before the issuance of the ban could still implement development but must follow the regulation on peat land oil palm plantation development.          Based on the regulation oil palm plantation development could  only be carried on less than three-meter thick peat lands.          The minister said the productivity of oil palm plantations right now is only 2.5 tons per hectare which is still below that of Malaysia which reaches 4 tons per hectare.          He said if productivity could be increased to equal that of Malaysia national crude palm oil production could increase twice higher than now.          With total oil palm plantations now recorded at 7.3 million hectares Indonesia could produce 21.5 million tons of palm oil. In 2020 the country expects to increase production to 40 million tons.          Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of  a forestry and climate Conference at Holmenkollen Park, Rica Hotel, in Oslo recently, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia would not stop its palm oil production.          He was referring to the Indonesia-Norway forest conservation agreement. "We already have our own plan to fulfill the obligation which has become our part in the cooperation between Indonesia and Norway in  reducing our emissions from deforestation and forest degradation," the president said.          But Indonesia would not stop its palm oil production, neither would it indiscriminately open up new forests for that purpose. Indonesia had taken a policy to use degraded land for the continuation of its oil palm industry.          According to Minister Suswono, the most important thing to do now is finding new markets so that Indonesia would not depend too much on Europe.          In addition, the government will soon apply Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standards nationwide to sharpen  the competitive edge of the commodity in the international market.          "I have heard ISPO will be made  mandatory. So far, RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) has been applied voluntarily," Deputy Trade Minister Mahendra Siregar said meanwhile.           He said the agriculture minister had completed the initial draft of ISPO. The draft had been distributed among various parties for inputs.           "I hope the process will  go on so that the ISPO can be issued in the not too distant future," he said.***2*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/23:10/H-YH) 12-06-2010 23:14:5