Indonesia plans to double oil palm subsidies

Indonesia plans to double palm tree subsidies to 60 million rupiah ($3,833.87) per hectare, the country’s chief economy minister, Airlanga Hartarto, said in a bid to speed up the program.

Indonesia launched a subsidized oil palm replanting program in 2016 to boost yields for smallholder farmers without clearing additional land.

However, implementation has been slow, in part due to administrative barriers and farmers’ concerns about losing income while they wait for the trees to mature.

The government has said it will review the requirements for joining the program.

The smallholder palm tree replanting scheme originally envisioned replacing about 2.5 million hectares of old trees by 2025.

Tags: subsidies, Indonesia, palm oil