Estates Production by Crops, Indonesia, 1995 - 2006

Estates Production by Crops, Indonesia, 1995 - 2006* (Ton)
Year	Dry Rubber		Palm Oil		Palm Kernel		Cocoa		Coffee		Tea		Cinchona bark		Cane Sugar 1)		Tobacco
1995	341,000		2,476,400		605,300		46,400		20,800		111,082		300		2,104,700		9,900
1996	334,600		2,569,500		626,600		46,800		26,500		132,000		400		2,160,100		7,100
1997	330,500		4,165,685		838,708		65,889		30,612		121,000		500		2,187,243		7,800
1998	332,570		4,585,846		917,169		60,925		28,530		132,682		400		1,928,744		7,700
1999	293,663		4,907,779		981,556		58,914		27,493		126,442		917		1,801,403		5,797
2000	375,819		5,094,855		1,018,971		57,725		28,265		123,120		792		1,780,130		6,312
2001	397,720		5,598,440		1,117,759		57,860		27,045		126,708		728		1,824,575		5,465
2002	403,712		6,195,605		1,209,723		48,245		26,740		120,421		635		1,901,326		5,340
2003	396,104		6,923,510		1,529,249		56,632		29,437		127,523		784		1,991,606		5,228
2004	403,800		8,479,262		1,861,965		54,921		29,159		125,514		740		2,051,642		2,679
2005	432,221		1,019,061		2,155,925		55,127		24,809		128,169		825		2,241,742		4,003
2006*	450,526		10,869,365		2,315,740		55,482		25,179		114,332		796		2,266,812		3,986
Note :
1). Including production which uses raw materials from smallholder.
*). Preliminary figures.

Estates Area by Crops, Indonesia 1995 - 2006

Estates Area by Crops, Indonesia 1995 - 2006* (000 Ha)
Year	Rubber		Oil Palm		Cocoa 1)		Coffee 1)		Tea 1)		Cinchona 1)		Sugarcane 2)		Tobacco 2)
1995	471.9		992.4		125.4		49.3		81.0		4.6		496.9		9.1
1996	538.3		1,146.3		129.6		46.7		88.8		2.2		400.0		4.3
1997	557.9		2,109.1		146.3		61.8		89.3		2.3		378.1		4.5
1998	549.0		2,669.7		151.3		62.5		91.2		0.6		405.4		5.7
1999	545.0		2,860.8		154.6		63.2		91.6		1.3		391.1		5.2
2000	549.0		2,991.3		157.8		63.2		90.0		1.3		388.5		5.2
2001	506.6		3,152.4		158.6		62.5		83.3		1.2		393.9		5.3
2002	492.9		3,258.6		145.8		58.2		84.4		1.2		375.2		5.4
2003	517.6		3,429.2		145.7		57.4		83.3		3.3		340.3		5.2
2004	514.4		3,496.7		87.7		52.6		83.3		3.2		344.8		3.3
2005	512.4		3,592.0		85.9		52.9		81.7		3.1		381.8		4.8
2006*	513.2		3,682.9		86.1		53.2		79.9		3.1		384.0		4.7
Note :
1). Area for annual crops is the area planted at end of the year.
2). Area for seasonal crops is the monthly commulative harvested area.
*). Preliminary figures.

Government to audit forestry companies' wood stocks

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 09/12/2008 10:51 AM | Headlines

Forestry companies will be required to have their wood stocks inspected from the very beginning of the purchasing chain, to help ensure the companies do not receive stocks from illegally felled timber.

Hadi Pasaribu, the Forestry Ministry's director general for the management of forestry production, said the ministry would appoint several independent assessor companies to verify the flow of the wood from upstream to downstream.

"The new verification system will involve all stakeholders, including NGOs," Hadi said.

The new system, dubbed the Wood Legality Verification System (SVLK), is expected to replace the current system run by the Forestry Industry Revitalization Agency (BRIK), which only inspects legal documents for the wood.

Under the proposed system, assessors will be deployed to conduct field checks on forests where the wood is logged.

Companies that use timber as a raw material are also required to report the origin of their wood supplies to the government for legal certification. Those failing to comply will risk being prosecuted or losing their operating licenses.

Taufik Alamin, Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute (LEI) executive director, said the new system was necessary because several importing countries, including Britain and Japan, required documents certifying the legality of the wood and the sustainability of the forests as the source of the wood.

LEI spokesperson Indra Setiadewi said the independent assessors would also function as watchdogs, legality verifiers, and license authorities.

Indonesia is on the losing side in a battle against illegal logging, despite an intense crackdown by authorities.

Widespread illegal logging stems from the huge gap between supply and demand, luring the poor and unemployed in remote areas in Kalimantan and Sumatra to plunder forests to meet orders from local and foreign tycoons.

Indonesia's timber demand this year is predicted to reach 30 million cubic meters, while the logging quota has already been set at 9.1 million cubic meters by the ministry.

According to the ministry, there are 324 logging permit holders, with the capacity to retrieve 22 million cubic meters of timber per year.

The Indonesian Forum of Environment (WALHI) claims more than 2.8 million hectares of woods are illegally logged each year.

Indonesia has the second-largest area of rainforest in the world after Brazil.

LEI and local NGOs have worked on the verification system for the past five years, since the Indonesian and British governments signed a memorandum of understanding in 2003 to tackle illegal logging.

Robianto Koestomo, Indonesian Wood Panel Association (Apkindo) chairman, argued the business sector did not need another verification system.

"It will only give us more bureaucracy and unnecessary additional costs," he said.

Taufik, however, said businesses did not have to worry about the new system because it would allow them to lodge their protests with a special institution. (KLP)

Oil palm plantations in and around Tanjung Puting National Park in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo Satellite image courtesy of Google Earth. (click image to enlarge)

Why is oil palm replacing tropical rainforests?

Recently much has been made about the conversion of Asia's biodiverse rainforests for oil-palm cultivation. Environmental organizations have warned that by eating foods that use palm oil as an ingredient, Western consumers are directly fueling the destruction of orangutan habitat and sensitive ecosystems.

So, why is it that oil-palm plantations now cover millions of hectares across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand? Why has oil palm become the world's number one fruit crop, trouncing its nearest competitor, the humble banana?


Read more: Why is oil palm replacing tropical rainforests?
Why are biofuels fueling deforestation?
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
April 25, 2006

The answer lies in the crop's unparalleled productivity. Simply put, oil palm is the most productive oil seed in the world. A single hectare of oil palm may yield 5,000 kilograms of crude oil, or nearly 6,000 liters of crude according to data from JourneytoForever. For comparison, soybeans and corn—crops often heralded as top biofuel sources—generate only 446 and 172 liters per hectare, respectively.

Indonesia: Palm Oil Production Prospects Continue to Grow

A significant change in the oil palm industry has taken place during the past season, as Indonesia surpassed Malaysia in production of palm oil and is now the world leader. This designation will continue and Indonesia’s production rate will outpace Malaysia for the foreseeable future. Personnel from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) conducted crop-assessment travel in the main palm oil production regions of Sumatra and West Kalimantan during August and September. The team met with palm oil estate managers, agricultural officials, researchers, and independent commodity analysts. The plantation visits were targeted in the country’s most important producing provinces. Regular surveys of fruit bunches three months prior to harvest were indicative of an output surge in fresh fruit bunches. Assuming normal rainfall and based on bunch counts there will be a surge in production during the last quarter of 2007 and into early 2008. In contrast, drier than normal conditions at the beginning of the year marginally reduced output for about three months. Oil production for all major producing areas is favorable despite some dryness in early 2007. Indonesia is forecast to produce 18.3 million metric tons of palm oil in 2007/08.

Read more