Viral Farmers Sell Palm Oil FFB To Malaysia, DPR Urges Government To Make Clear And Firm Rules

Illustration. (Photo: Antara Doc)

JAKARTA - A video showing farmers selling oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to Malaysia has gone viral on social media.

Responding to this, a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) Commission VII from the PKS faction, Mulyanto asked the government to make clear and firm rules.

The regulation in question is a permit related to this so that the actions of farmers selling their harvests abroad are legally safe.

"The government must regulate this matter properly so that the hard work of oil palm farmers can be optimal and state revenues will also increase. This is an important step so that the welfare of smallholder oil palm farmers does not decline", he said in an official statement, Tuesday, July 5.

Mulyanto reminded the government not to only facilitate the export of crude palm oil (CPO) from entrepreneurs, while the fate of oil palm farmers is neglected.

According to him, the government should pay serious attention to the fate of oil palm farmers.

Furthermore, Mulyanto assesses, that there is nothing wrong if the government allows farmers to export oil palm FFB to Malaysia.

"The government must understand the attitude of the oil palm farmers. Because the price of this commodity has fallen domestically. Meanwhile, the price of FFB in Malaysia is still good", he said.

For your information, although the world CPO price since March 2022 has generally started to fall, the price of CPO including the price of palm oil FFB in Malaysia is still better than in Indonesia. Even the price difference is quite significant.

In Malaysia, the price of FFB is still in the range of IDR 3,500 to IDR 4,500 per kg. Meanwhile, the price of FFB in North Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan is only around IDR 1,200 to IDR 1,600 per kg. Even the price at the level of smallholder farmers can be much lower.

This price disparity is thought to be the main attraction for smallholder FFB exports to neighboring Malaysia.

Palm Oil Industrial Management

In addition, Mulyanto also urged the government to immediately organize the palm oil industry or factories.

So far, it is the palm oil mill that buys FFB from the farmers.

However, unfortunately, now many palm oil mills have rejected FFB from farmers, and not even a few factories have closed.

As a result, the price of smallholder FFB fell to its lowest point.

"If this condition is left unchecked or handled too late, our palm oil industry may collapse", he said.