File pic — Reuters
JAKARTA: Indonesia plans to double its palm oil replanting subsidy to 60 million rupiah ($3,833.87) per hectare, its chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto said in a statement on Tuesday, in efforts to accelerate the programme.
Indonesia in 2016 launched a subsidised replanting programme for palm oil, one of its top commodity exports, to boost yields from smallholders without clearing more land.
However, the take-up has been slow due to administrative hurdles and farmers' concerns over loss of income while they wait for the trees to mature, among others.
Airlangga said the government will also review the requirements to join the programme.
The smallholders palm oil replanting scheme initially targeted replacing around 2.5 million hectares of old trees by 2025.
Yet only 326,308 hectares had been approved by the end of 2023, and only 205,524 hectares have actually been planted. - Reuters
