Providing a balanced view

Economic importance: More than 15 million Indonesians are employed in the palm oil industry. — Reuters

THE country’s giant palm oil industry, long a target of global green groups, is shoring up its defences closer to home as it tries to counter growing anti-palm oil sentiment among a more environmentally conscious generation of young Indonesians.

Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, is training farmers and teachers and running social media campaigns to highlight the positive aspects of the US$50bil (RM207.6bil) industry.