Indonesia looks to Papua to expand palm oil plantations: official

The government of Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, is now looking at its vast easternmost provinces in Papua to expand its palm oil plantations, a senior official said Wednesday.

“After Sumatra and Kalimantan became too dense for new palm oil plantations, the only land available is in Papua,” the agriculture ministry’s Director General for Plantations, Achmad Manggabarani, said on the margin of a three-day international conference on the commodity here.
He said the two provinces in Papua, the western half of New Guinea island, have three to four million hectares (up to 9.8 million acres) of land suitable for palm oil plantation.

“Several companies have already expressed interest, especially from Malaysia,” Manggabarani said without giving details.

Several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, have called for a moratorium on the expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, warning that soaring world demand is creating an environmental crisis.

Hapsoro, forest campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, condemned the governments plans for the massive expansion of plantations on Papua.

AFP