Palm oil plantation moratorium, Ministry of Industry encourages productivity

"There will be a moratorium for oil palm lands, the Industry Ministry will encourage productivity of existing lands to increase production," said Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Furthermore, Airlangga continued, the Industry Ministry will also encourage added value of the product, for example Crude Palm Oil (CPO) to its derivative products.

"So, we are increasing production by increasing productivity from plantation to downstream. We even encourage green products. So, of course its derivative products are also environmentally friendly," Airlangga said.

It is known that President Joko Widodo said that the government will temporarily stop or have a moratorium for oil palm land concession in several provinces.

President Jokowi explained that oil palm plants take too long to produce because farmers have not used good seedlings and because of the delay in replanting the trees.