Palm Oil Farmers Must Begin Entering the Industrial Level

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Indonesian palm oil farmers play a highly significant and strategic role in maintaining the sustainability of the national palm oil industry. This is reflected in their substantial contribution to land management, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the total national palm oil plantation area of around 16.8 million hectares. With such a large share, farmers are not merely complementary actors but the primary foundation of Indonesia’s palm oil supply chain. However, the role of palm oil farmers still needs to be enhanced in a more systematic and targeted manner. To date, the majority of farmers remain in the position of traditional cultivators with limitations in access to technology, financing, and downstream processing. Therefore, concrete efforts are required to encourage and facilitate the transformation of farmers to advance, not only as raw material producers but also as part of an industrial ecosystem with added value. With an estimated farmer plantation area of around 7 million hectares, the industrialisation of palm oil farmers will have a very significant impact on strengthening the competitiveness of Indonesian palm oil products in the global market. Enhancing farmers’ capacity in aspects of productivity, quality, and processing will be key to facing international competition while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the palm oil industry. “Palm oil farmers must be brought into the era of industrialisation, so they can build businesses from upstream to downstream. In this way, farmers’ dependence on other parties will decrease, their bargaining position will improve, and they will have much greater profit opportunities,” said Kacuk Sumarto, Chairman of RSI (Rumah Sawit Indonesia), at the Limited Discussion Forum (FDT) at Menara Agrinas Palma in Jakarta on Monday (27 April 2026). At the FDT themed “Accelerating the Rejuvenation of People’s Palm Oil as a Step to Bring Farmers into the Industrial Era,” several stakeholders from various agencies attended as speakers. Among them were Togu Rudianto, Chairman of the Palm Oil Cultivation Group of the Directorate General of Plantations of the Ministry of Agriculture, representing Director General of Plantations Ali Jamil, and Suprapto, Head of the Subdirectorate for Forest Area Affirmation of Region I at the Directorate of Forest Area Affirmation of the Ministry of Forestry, representing Ade Tri Ajikusumah. In addition, Farid Hidayat, Director of Basic Land and Spatial Measurement and Mapping at the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency, attended representing Director General of Land and Spatial Survey and Mapping Virgo Eresta. From the financing sector, Ahmad Munir, Director of Fund Mobilisation at BPDP, attended representing BPDP’s President Director Eddy Abdurrachman. The forum was also attended by the President Director of PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara and several officials from Rumah Sawit Indonesia (RSI).