RI falls short of oil palm seedling demand

RI falls short of oil palm seedling demand

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia fell short of the demand for oil palm
seedlings by 10 million seedlings last year as domestic supplies
totaled only 60 million, while the national demand reached 70
million, said Kabul Pamin, head of the North Sumatra based Palm
Oil Research Center (PPKS).

The shortage of seedlings was caused by the large expansion of
oil palm estates, Kabul said during a hearing with the City
Council's economic commission in Medan, North Sumatra.

"The seedling supply growth has always been surpassed by the
rate of oil palm plantation expansion," he was quoted by Kompas
daily as saying Thursday.

The country has only three producers of certified oil palm
seedlings. They are PPKS, PT PP London Sumatera and PT Socfin.

PPKS produced about 463 million seedlings between 1971 and
1996, 130 million of which were distributed to plantations owned
by local farmers, he said.

Last year alone, PPKS supplied about 40 million seedlings.

Kabul said the shortage of certified seedlings had opened
opportunities to sellers of uncertified seedlings.

Fraudulent or uncertified seedlings especially harm
smallholders who do not have the expertise to verify seedling
standards, Kabul said.

He said the yield of plantations in which uncertified
seedlings were planted was very low because the trees grew very
slowly and were highly vulnerable to disease. (02)