Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hopes Palm Oil Rejuvenation Policy Can Be Accelerated

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (Menko) Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto hopes that the People's Palm Oil Rejuvenation (PSR) policy can be accelerated in order to achieve the target.

He revealed, since its implementation in 2017, the average realization of oil palm land has only reached 50,000 hectares (ha) per year, while the target is set at 180,000 ha every year.

"Our average has only reached around 50,000 ha per year, and this is less than 30 percent of the target that was announced by the President at 180,000 ha per year," Airlangga said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, March 28.

Therefore, the National Coordination Meeting has agreed on the need to accelerate the PSR program.

The government also distributed funding for the PSR program through the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) amounting to Rp9.25 trillion for land area 331,007 ha.

Previously, the government had also increased the amount of financing for the PSR program from Rp. 30 million to Rp. 60 million per ha.

"We hope that with an increase in costs to Rp. 60 million, it will not only be in the first year, but in the second and third years it can be financed for the livelihoods of the planters," he said.

For information, the realization of the PSR program or replanting in 2023 was recorded at 53,012 ha, an increase of 72.35 percent compared to 2022 which was 30,759 ha.

The government also noted that the distribution of PSR funds in 2023 was IDR 1.5 trillion, which was given to 21,020 planters.

Furthermore, in the National Coordination Meeting, Coordinating Minister Airlangga explained that through the Sustainable Palm Oil National Action Plan (RAN-KSB) it is hoped that it can help stakeholders in the implementation of more sustainable governance of the palm oil industry.

He considered that the Action Plan for each region was important and became one of the indicators of the Palm Oil Revenue Sharing Fund (DBH) to the local government.

The DBH that was distributed last year was recorded at IDR 3.4 trillion.

These funds include being used for the construction of road infrastructure in plantations, data collection on oil palm plantations, the preparation of regional action plans and DBH.