Red Palm Oil has the Potential to be a Driver of Industrialization and Village Economy

JAKARTA - Improving nutritional quality is an important agenda in realizing a healthy and productive society. Red palm oil has great potential to answer this challenge.

Professor of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, IPB University, Prof. Endang Prangdimurti, said that red palm oil contains many nutrients that are beneficial for body health. This oil has a high content of tocopherols, tocotrienols, to carotenoids.

Red palm oil also contains three elements that are very important for human body health, namely pro-vitamin A, vitamin E, and squalene. If optimized properly, red palm oil can be a solution to the problem of stunting in Indonesia.

It is worth noting, the content of pro-vitamin A plays an important role in regulating genes for growth hormone as well as maintaining the body's immune system and preventing digestive infections. Then squalene functions in the formation of good cholesterol which is an important factor for brain development.

"So, indeed, this red palm oil has very high nutritional content," he said in Jakarta, Thursday (13/8/2026).

Endang Prangdimurti appealed for red palm oil products to be presented in the form of supplements such as capsules or syrup. He emphasized, presenting the product as a supplement because red palm oil has many benefits for human health.

The health benefits of red palm oil include its ability to prevent and reduce cardiovascular disease to prevent cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

"The presentation of red palm oil products can be like fish oil. So, red palm oil is consumed by humans for supplements," he said.

He hopes that if red palm oil is produced in the form of a supplement, it will be better accepted by the public.

He encouraged that the consumption of red palm oil could be further increased so that the public could feel the health benefits of the product.

Until now, the government through the Palm Oil Fund Management Agency (BPDP) has continued to encourage palm oil innovation and the development of palm oil downstream products with added value through palm oil plantation research and development programs. One of the flagship downstream products that has great potential is red palm oil.

"Hopefully, with various improvements, red palm oil products can be more accepted by the public," he hoped.

Chairman of the Strategic Socio-Economic Kader Association (AKSES), Suroto, hopes that red palm oil products can be distributed through the network of the Red and White Village Cooperative (KDMP) so that they can reach the community more widely. He agrees that red palm oil products have many benefits for the body's health.

Suroto hopes that the formation of a good red palm oil industry ecosystem will grow new economic pockets in villages, especially around palm oil plantations and factories. He believes that if red palm oil products can be produced on a home industry scale, it will encourage economic equality in Indonesia.

"We hope that flagship products such as red palm oil will emerge from household industries in various regions. We hope that KDMP can become a business network and promotional space for these flagship products," he hoped.

He emphasized that this red palm oil has great potential and advantages. He encouraged the use of this potential so that it can have a positive impact on the health, economy, and social life of the community.

Economically, the utilization of red palm oil as a downstream product of palm oil will encourage the creation of jobs while improving the welfare of the community. Red palm oil downstream products can also contribute to the stability of the price of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) of farmers' cooperatives and increase the competitiveness of the national palm oil industry.

"The fractionation of palm oil in the form of red palm oil products will certainly provide added value both economically and socially. These positive impacts will be felt directly by the people in the villages," he concluded.