Palm oil plantations in Indonesia are one type of production operation. Borneo and Sumatra are the two primary islands that account for nearly 96% of palm oil produced in Indonesia (Rianto, 2019). In the year 2017, statistics indicate that there were 7.8 million hectares of land used in palm oil production. However, only 6.1 million hectares were actively being used in harvesting (Rianto, 2019). That makes Indonesia the leading crude palm oil producers. Borneo and Sumatra are located in South East Asia precisely at the equator. Borneo is the largest island globally, and it covers an area that is slightly larger than Texas in the United States. Sumatra, on the other hand, is considered to be the sixth-largest island in the world.
There are four main types of operations taking place in palm oil production in Indonesia. They include reception, sterilization, harvesting, and digestion. In the reception operation, their fresh fruits are made to the industry as bunches. They are then emptied into wooden boxes where they are categorically weighted. The next process is harvesting, where the fruits are not removed from the groups. Since the plantations are large and the bunches are in bulk, the threshing operation is mechanized. A rotating drum is fitted with rotary beaters that will detach the fruits from the crowd. In the sterilization operation, high heat is used on loose grains. The activity's primary purpose is to weaken the steam of the fruits, which makes it easy to remove the nuts from the bunches through shaking. The last operation is digestion, where the palm oil in the fruit is released through the cracking of the oil-bearing cells.
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Palm oil produced in Indonesia accounts for nearly 11% of all the export earnings. That amounts to $5.7 billion maintaining the country's status as the leading producer of palm oil. The main commodity being produced in the industry is palm oil. Palm oil has several uses, including cooking oil for personal care and cosmetics and even as biofuel and energy. In the year 2016, Indonesia produces 34.5 million tonnes of palm oil (Rianto, 2019). They managed to export a total of 25.1 million tonnes of palm oil in the same years. However, the amount is estimated to increase tremendously by 2021 as more and more land is being allocated towards the growth of the palm oil brunches. An acre of land can accommodate up to 60 trees of palm oil. The input materials include seeds, fertilizer, and labor. The planting is done through a triangular system of 9 by nine by 9. That implies that the quantity of seedlings needed per hectare is 143. The amount of fertilizer varies depending on the health condition of the palm tree. Also, the labor varies depending on the stage of growth. During cultivation and harvesting, more workers are needed.
Other than crude palm oil (CPO) and the palm kernel, other wastes are produced in the palm oil production process. A singleton of the crude palm oil generates up to relatively 2.5 tonnes of the palm oil mill effluent (POME) ("Irvan," 2018). Other wastes that are produced include empty fruit bunches (EFB), mesocarp fibers and shells. Every ton of the CPO produces 0.9 tons of the EFB, 0.27 tons of the tanks, and 0.6 tons of the mesocarp waste ("Irvan," 2018). Most of the residues are either burnt off in the open air or are disposed of in the waste ponds. However, other wastes are recycled and used for other purposes. For instance, the shells and the fibers are used to create energy in most of the mills.
On the other hand, the empty fruit brunches are used in the mulching process or are just dumped recklessly. After the palm oil extraction and packaging into containers, they are transported to the market with tracks. Some are taken to the local markets for sale while others that are well refined are made to the exportation airport. Some of the export destinations include China. China is the largest imported of Palm oil from Indonesia. In the year 2019, China imported approximately 6 million tons of palm oil from Indonesia. The amount represents about 16.5% of the total amount of palm oil exported by Indonesia in 2019 (Rianto, 2019).
The production of palm oil affects various global environmental systems—the primary ecological system affected by palm oil creation in Indonesia island. There has been an increase in deforestation, and more land is being directed towards palm trees growing to produce oil. Air is the other environmental system that is being affected by the production process. There has been an increase in environmental pollution as most of the production process wastes are bunt in the open air. There has been a degradation in the habitat, and most animals are losing their habitat. Equally, there is a violation of human rights, especially for the individuals who are being used as workers in the palm tree plantations.
References
Irvan. (2018). Processing of Palm Oil Mill Wastes Based on Zero Waste Technology. IOP Conferences Series: Materials Science and Engineering. 309.
Rianto, B. (2019). Overview of Palm Oil Industry Landscape in Indonesia. Industry Landscape, Regulatory and Financial Overview. Plantation Comprehensive Overview, Pp. 1-16.
