Govt Replants 15.700 Hectares Oil Palm Plantation in Jambi

The Government kicked off oil palm replanting program at Ujung Tanjung Village, Sungai Bahar sub-distric, Muaro Jambi Regency in the Province of Jambi to boost productivity. The program will replant the 20-year-old trees on 15.700 hectare of oil palm plantation owned by smallholder farmers. On Press Release (12/9/2018), Ministry of Agriculture stated that Jambi has 789.000 hectares of oil palm plantation. About 578.000 hectares of them owned and managed by smallholder farmers and 63.000 hectares of them need to replant. The government has set a replanting plan for 20.000 hectares of palm oil plantation in Jambi in 2018, but  only 15.700 hectares of them are ready. Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman said that oil palm plantations in Indonesia stretch across 14,03 million hectares and 5,61 million hectares of them owned by smallholder farmers. About 2,4 million hectares of smallholder farmers plantation need to replant. “Replanting is needed to boost productivity and the most important to maintain farmers income in the future,” Andi Amran said. Jambi is one of provinces that receive replanting grants from the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDPKS). For this replanting program, BPDPKS will disburse grant up to Rp25 million per hectare, while the remaining funding needs will be covered by banking credit. The Government is targeting to replant 185 thousand hectares oil palm plantations in 20 provinces and 75 regencies this year. It is estimated that the program will absorb 27,7 million seeds provided by 17 national seeds companies.  ***