|
ABSTRACT |
Oil Palm : The Agricultural
Producer of Food, Fibre and Fuel for GLobal Economy
Oil palm industry has expanded from
just an agricultural producer of edible oils and fats to fibre (material)
and fuel (energy) as well for the global economy. In producing food,
fibre and fuel (the 3Fs), the industry has also identified the enlarged
environmental consequences that will now be involved. Arising from this,
the science and technology (S&T) for the 3Fs production now falls squarely
on the research and development (R&D) undertaken on land-use and land-use
cover changes from forestry (LULUCF) with inclusion of the two latter
products. Besides the best practices implemented to enhance the economic,
environmental and social requirements, any change in the land-use pattern
is prioritized with the environmental consequences identified and minimized.
The S&T development in itself is not enough and must be applied together
with business. It is critical that sustainability and poverty reduction
remain the guiding principles for efficient use of resources, harness
of intellect, and channel knowledge to benefit the rural poor and marginalized.
As more plantation companies develop the potential to produce the 3Fs,
there will be greater realization that both the policy and infrastructure
support from the government is important. This must be accompanied by
higher participation in activities by all the stakeholders over the
whole value supply chain that involve the companies, industry and nation
at all three levels to strengthen agricultural development to realize
this 3Fs objective. The benefits of this new 3Fs approach are three-fold:
firstly, greater promotion of value-addition and accomplishment of accelerated
growth of agro-businesses in the food, material (fibre) and energy (fuel)
subsectors. Secondly, creating more jobs in the rural sector with greater
security for a fair standard of living for the smallholders and their
families. Thirdly, discourage migration of people to the urban areas
as the rural populace is better able to face the challenges coming from
the economic liberalization and globalization resulting from more job
opportunities created by the plantations and emerging agro-businesses.
A total of 10 recommendations for policy refinement to enhance the 3Fs
objective are discussed. They are aimed at achieving food security,
fibre and fuel production by focusing on developmental and environmental
consequences; continuing sustainable agriculture to improve the economic,
social and environmental impacts of the companies in managing the 3Fs
objective thereby hastening rural development when these new agro-businesses
start to benefit not only the welfare of the people living in and around
the plantations but also along the whole value chain.
Top |
Oil Palm in Indonesian
Socio-Economic Improvement - A Review of Options
The Indonesian Government has used oil palm as a tool of rural socioeconomic
improvement, doing this through nucleus estates operated by
estate companies and through assisting individual smallholdings. Over
900 000 ha of high yielding oil palm have been established in 2-3 ha
settler blocks in nucleus estate plasma, and 250 000 ha have been
planted on individual smallholdings. The initiatives have together raised
the incomes of over 500 000 farmers, and may be judged successful
market interventions which are far superior to laissez faire.
Although the average economic and social performances of both
initiatives have been reasonable, their outcomes have been variable.
The nucleus estates have sometimes suffered from faulty management,
bad community rapport and difficult land conversions, and from the
mistakes of government agencies and settler cooperatives. They were
discontinued in 2001, due to scarce finance. The assistance to individual
smallholdings has always had short funding, limiting its scope. Both
initiatives were commenced under the New Order, and face fresh
challenges in the present era of democracy and otonomi daerah.
The analysis of this paper nonetheless shows that these Indonesian
interventions should be continued, albeit more capital being provided
and their deficiencies being remedied. It denotes that the interventions
compare well with official efforts in other countries, strengthening the
general case for public action to assist poor rural dwellers.
Top |
Competitiveness in
Global Trade in Edible Oil : Emerging Trends and Pivotal Drivers
Away from classical theories of absolute and relative comparative
advantage, modern agricultural industries are also experiencing a new
paradigm for competitiveness. As producer countries attempt to
appropriate more and more of added values, the framework for
competitiveness shifts to newer grounds more in sync with the
agricultural policies of the developed importing western world.
Interventions through government policies, notwithstanding supposedly
a multilateral trade regime, distort competitiveness in the market place.
This is done by limiting market access through innovative non-tariff
trade barriers and levying discriminatory tariffs mainly to protect and
promote increased growth of domestic industries at the cost of the home
consumers. This paper attempts to overview some of these developments
affecting competitiveness of global trade in edible oils, in particular
with respect to palm oil.
Top |
Production and Price Forecast
for Malaysian Palm Oil
In the oils and fats sector, Malaysia can always be associated with
palm oil due to its being the world’s biggest producer and exporter of
the commodity. Malaysia produces and exports most of its palm oil due
to its small population size and receives quite substantial amount of
revenues from this product to support its economy. Thus, in this respect,
it is important for the country to monitor the commodity’s production
as well as its price that can be used in a way to determine the country’s
revenue or in various decision-making processes. It is the objective of
this paper then to analyse them econometrically and finally to forecast
them. The paper indicates that production of palm oil will increase at a
decreasing rate in future due to limited availability of land. By 2020,
production is expected to reach 22 million tonnes while in the shortterm,
it will be about 15.9 million tonnes in 2006. Price of palm oil is
expected to fluctuate as before but in the near future, strengthening its
level by increasing gradually in 2006.
Top |
Other
MPOB Publications
Search
