Palm Oil Fruit Mark Theft Rises, Farmers Ask Law Enforcers To Act

JAKARTA - A number of farmers in Mukomuko Regency, Bengkulu Province, complained about the rampant theft of fresh palm fruit bunches that were new and finished harvesting. "We just wanted to harvest palm fruit, but theirtu fruit has been stolen, and this incident is not only once, but often and this incident has hit a number of farmers," said one of the farmers, Endang Supandi, Antara, Sunday, August 11. Endang Supandi, who is a former PLN employee, gardens oil palm in Tanjung Mulya Village, XIV Koto District, Mukomuko Regency. He said he was aware of the theft of his palm oil fresh fruit bunches when he wanted to go to the garden to harvest his palm oil. "He added, almost 50 percent of the fresh palm oil bunch on his two hectare land was stolen, and none of the farmers around his garden knew about the perpetrators of the theft. "It's not just my palm oil stolen, palm fruit near his garden was also stolen and farmers around the location of this palm oil plantation have often lost oil," he said. The rampant theft of palm oil, according to him, should have deployed personnel to trace who the perpetrators of the theft of the farmers' palm oil.

Regarding this incident, he stated that he was ready to reveal the theft of this palm fruit to the local APH so that the incident would not happen again. According to him, the rampant theft of palm fruit causes farmers to suffer losses because operational costs ranging from fertilizers and grass poison are not comparable to the yields. He believes that the perpetrators of theft of oil palm farmers are not one or two people but use more and use vehicles, and these perpetrators are considered to be specialists in the matter of stealing palm oil.