Annual Seminar of Maksi 2010 officially launches Friends of Palm
Soybean oil-producing countries begin to be aware of the increasing influence of palm oil in the world market. Now there are negative campaigns against palm oil. The negative claims more frequently echoed are among others environmental issues related to the burning case of oil palm forests, carbon emissions, lost biodiversity, disrupted orangutans and health issues of palm products and its derivatives. Unfortunately, these issues are often not based on correct data and facts.
Those were the topics put forward in the Annual Seminar 2010 of MAKSI (Indonesian Oil Palm Community) 2010, Wednesday (8/12) in IPB International Convention Center (IICC) Bogor. The event was officially opened by Chairman of MAKSI Prof.Dr.Ir. Tien R Muchtadi, MS., and attended by Deputy Minister of Agriculture RI, Dr. Bayu Krisna Murti, who was invited to be a keynote speaker.
In contrast to such issues, according to Prof. Tien, we all know that today Indonesia is the largest palm oil producer in the world, which has exceeded Malaysia in its production and acreage. The CPO production in 2009 reached 21.5 million tons with the oil palm plantation area of 8127 million hectares.
According to the data from Oil World Annual 2009-2010, the vegetable oil market is currently dominated by palm oil, with a ratio of 27.7 % for palm oil and 22.4 % for soybean oil of the total 168.8 million tones of vegetable oil, although the world acreage of oil palm plantations is only 13.1 million hectares, compared with 97.3 million hectares of soybean. Such land efficiency is possible because oil palm is an annual plant that produces fruit throughout the year, while soybean is seasonal.
The utilization of palm is not only limited to oil, but almost all parts of the palm trees have economic value. For example, the waste from oil palm bunches is potential to be processed into organic fertilizer through aerobic fermentation.
Deputy Minister said that as the largest producer of palm oil Indonesia is currently taking a series of systematic and fundamental steps toward the formulation of a sustainable development through the Indonesian oil palm Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). ISPO is the direction or guidance for a sustainable development of Indonesia’s palm oil based on the existing laws and regulations in Indonesia.
Present at the seminar as resource persons were Vice Chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Council, Derom Bangun; Chairman of GAPKI, Joefly J Bahroeny; Assistant Deputy of Plantation and Horticulture, Deputy of Agriculture and Marine in Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, Musdhalifah Machmud; and Director General of Agro Industry in the Industrial Ministry of RI, Benny Wahyudi. On this occasion, “Sahabat Sawit” ("Friends of the Palm") was also officially launched; they are Ari Lasso dan Audy, two Indonesian popular artists to hold the mission to popularize the potential of national palm oil to the general public. (mtd)
