Downstream Palm Oil Can Dongkrak Economics Post-COVID-19

Ibnu Mulhajar Member of Commission IV DPR RI. (screenshot of Youtube DPR RI)

JAKARTA - The palm oil industry from upstream and downstream is labor-intensive. Data in 2021, there are around 16.38 million hectares for plantation businesses and 6.9 million hectares for palm oil. Therefore, the palm oil sector must be managed in such a way because the upstream is very dense with labor.

If downstream oil palm can be done well, it will be able to leverage the economy after the current covid so that what happens can overcome the impact of covid.

Member of Commission IV DPR RI Ibnu Mulhajar said it was time for Indonesia to push downstream more massively. This naturalization requires a blue print so that this program looks well planned which will have an impact on helping the Indonesian economy.

"The distribution of palm oil will have a very big impact on the national economy. This is because the Indonesian economy is one of the levers of labor from the labor-intensive sector," he said.

There are indeed many downstream challenges, one of which is the blur print about what the downstream function of palm oil wants to be used for. Indeed, there is biodiesel which has now reached 40 percent, but there is no downstream sector yet.

He hopes that the government will immediately make a blue print of palm oil what it wants to be used for. The export is not only in the form of CPO, but the derivative of any palm oil. If this already exists, then the downstream of palm oil can be well planned.

The downstream road map for palm oil will be maximized so that the downstream oil palm industry can live and the upstream sector can live. In addition, the negative campaign that palm oil damages the environment must be addressed immediately.

To support the downstream process, a program separation is needed. The upstream sector must be able to answer the negative campaign of palm oil. Meanwhile, the downstream sector is given attractive incentives so that investment in the downstream sector becomes more attractive.