ICOPE encourages land intensification for sustainable palm oil development

Nusa Dua (Antaranews Bali) - The International Conference on Oil Palm and the Environment (ICOPE) 2018 has encouraged land intensification for sustainable palm oil development, in order to meet world food demand.

"We are committed to stop deforestation," President Director of Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food, Franky Oesman Widjaja, stated here on Wednesday.

His company has supported the government`s program through its participation in the mentoring of plasma farmers and villagers in oil palm replanting.

It has provided counseling for farmers, who manage their land independently, to get qualified seeds and fertilizers and to practice sustainable farming and has helped them to get funding resource.

Oil palm land intensification is expected to double farmers` land productivity to six million tons per hectare.

"For one million farmers, the income would increase to US$4 billion per year. This is amazing," he remarked, adding that the intensification program would save more land.

Widjaja stated that palm oil would become a solution to meet world oil demand. With the world population set to reach some 10 billion by 2045-2050, it would need additional 30-40 hectares of land and 200 million tons of vegetable oil, which is more efficient, compared to other vegetable oils.

Soybean, for instance, would need some 400 million hectares of land and rapeseed some 285 million hectares to produce the same amount of vegetable oil.

According to Widjaja, palm oil sustainability could be reached through the balance in economic chance, protection of the environment, and people`s prosperity as the key components in palm oil sector.

The biennial event was attended by 400 speakers from 30 countries and representatives of farmers, activists, plantation owners, and experts.

Chairman of ICOPE 2018, JP Caliman, remarked that since its first meeting in 2007, the conference has addressed issues on the environment impact of palm oil production and served as an unbiased sourced for sustainable palm oil production.

"For 11 years, three partners shared the same values for sustainable palm oil industry," he added.

The three partners are Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia, and Cirad, the French agricultural research and international cooperation organization. (WDY)