Input–output optimisation model for sustainable oil palm plantation development

Globally, 45 million metric tonnes of palm oil has been produced in 2009. The production of 1 t crude palm oil requires 5 t of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). On average, processing of 1 t FFB in palm oil mills generates 230 kg empty fruit bunches (EFB) and 650 kg palm oil mill effluent (POME) as residues. These residues cause considerable environmental burdens, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reduce those emissions, four waste management options are compared in the present study using 1,000 kg of FFB as functional unit. A detailed life cycle model has been used to calculate the environmental impacts of POME and EFB treatment. The options under investigation are: (1) dumping EFB and storing POME and ponds, (2) returning EFB to the plantation and POME as before, (3) using EFB and POME for co-composting and returning the produced compost to the plantation, (4) generating biogas from POME and thereafter as in (3). The CML 2001 method included in the GABI 4.3 software package has been used for the impact calculations. Sensitivity analysis has been carried out in order to estimate the influence of good and poor management practice on the environmental performance. The main contributor to the GWP is methane from POME and EFB dumping. The GWP of palm oil mill waste treatment can be reduced from 245 kg CO2eq per ton FFB to up to 5 kg CO2eq per ton FFB due to reduced methane emissions and nutrient recycling. Co-composting of POME and EFB leads to considerable nutrient recovery, in addition to GWP reduction. Thus, the composting process reduces not only environmental burdens; it also leads to net environmental benefit regarding most environmental impact categories, e.g., acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion potential, etc. due to the avoided emissions from inorganic fertilizer production. The recovery of nutrients in EFB can be achieved by solely returning it to the plantation, but only the combined treatment of EFB and POME allows nutrient recovery from POME while methane emissions from pond systems are avoided simultaneously. The fermentation of POME to produce biogas reduces environmental burdens when operating under best practice conditions. However, fugitive biogas emissions of more than 2% reverse that beneficial effect. A life-cycle-based comparison of conventional and advanced treatment systems for EFB and POME can support decision makers regarding waste treatment options and provide information on technology risks involved. The results of this study may be used as basic calculation data for clean development mechanism for palm oil mills. LCA is shown to be a powerful tool to estimate and compare environmental impacts of different options. Unfortunately, it is rarely used in the palm oil industry in order to improve or optimize palm oil production systems. This study has shown that nutrient recovery from POME and EFB offers considerable environmental and economic benefits to palm oil production systems. However, using EFB for energy production, as it is discussed and realized by some palm oil mills, prohibits environmental beneficial POME utilization. Best waste management practice reduces emissions at palm oil mills and consequently the carbon footprint of palm oil products. Co-composting of EFB and POME, with or without prefermentation of POME in a biogas plant, is a profitable way to use the nutrients from both POME and EFB.

Indonesia possesses palm oil as one of its strategic commodities, and it plays a crucial role in its economic growth. Over the years, the expansion of land and the production of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) of palm oil has consistently increased, accompanied by a rise in land area and crude palm oil (CPO) production. The pivotal role of Indonesia as the world’s largest palm oil producer must be highlighted through sustainability studies, especially in environmental aspects. Life cycle assessment is a technique utilized to evaluate the environmental implications of products, processes, and services, spanning their complete life cycle from the extraction of raw materials to waste management. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) encompasses various environmental impact categories, providing a comprehensive understanding of the ecological contribution of a product or service. This research assesses the environmental impact of oil palm plantation activities in Riau province, Indonesia. The research’s boundary is set to a cradle-to-gate analysis within the oil palm plantation subsystem. The Life Cycle Assessment was conducted utilizing the SimaPro 9.5.0.0 software employing the ReCiPe 2016 method. The total emissions generated during the production process of 5 tons of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) amount to 1634.22 kg CO2eq/5 tons of FFB. The major contributors to emissions are the production and use of inorganic fertilizers. Specifically, the types of fertilizers responsible for the high greenhouse gas emissions are KCl, followed by phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers. Besides the potential for global warming, human carcinogenic toxicity is another potential impact, primarily from fertilization. The findings in this study can serve as scientific evidence in formulating solutions for sustainable oil palm plantations, particularly in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. An environmentally conscious approach to lowering emissions requires meticulous scrutiny and implementation of precision farming. It chiefly involves keeping a close watch on the quantity of fertilizer used in plantation settings and promoting using fertilizers with lower carbon footprints.

Empty fruit bunch are one of palm oil mills waste. The goal of this study was to see how empty fruit bunch (EFB) treatment affected the yield of fresh fruit bunches in oil palm trees. This was a descriptive study by observing oil palm plantations treated with organic material obtained from research or experiments. The observation was on the production of fresh fruit bunch (FFB). The data obtained came from oil palm plants' production data. Statistical analysis of observation parameters with significant effect was performed using the least significant difference (LSD) test. Any usage of empty fruit bunches composted on oil palm plants which is applied to frond stack increased rachis nutrient level, particularly Ca, Mg, and B, all of which are important in oil palm productivity. In addition, It can also impact N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Zn, Cu, even Cl nutrient level on leaf tissues. EFB composting had no significant effect on FFB production. In this study, FFB production was highest with the control treatment, but FFB production with the EFB treatment was slightly lower, not significantly different from the control treatment.

During replanting activity in oil palm plantation, biomass including palm frond and trunk are produced. In palm oil mills, during the conversion process of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) into crude palm oil (CPO), several kinds of waste including empty fruit bunch (EFB), mesocarp fiber (MF), palm kernel shell (PKS), palm kernel meal (PKM), and palm oil mills effluent (POME) are produced. The production of these wastes is abundant as oil palm plantation area, FFB production, and palm oil mills spread all over 22 provinces in Indonesia. These wastes are still economical as they can be utilized as sources of alternative fuel, fertilizer, chemical compounds, and biomaterials. Therefore, breakthrough studies need to be done in order to improve the added value of oil palm, minimize the waste, and make oil palm industry more sustainable.

Oil palm expansion among Indonesian smallholders - adoption, welfare implications and agronomic challenges

Oil palm is one of Indonesia’s main commodities that play a role in the growth of the national economy. It has a considerable contribution in generating foreign exchange and employment. Development of Indonesia’s CPO processing industry and its derivatives is in line with the growth of plantation area and production of oil palm as a source of raw materials. Until 2011, Indonesia’s oil palm plantation area reached 2,103,175 ha with an FFB production of 36,809,252 tons. Meanwhile, oil palm mill (OPM) processing capacity was 30,019,200 tons only. The analysis showed the regional carrying capacity (RCC) was 1.584. Each FFB should be processed in less than 8 hours or RCC for OPM must be smaller than 1 (RCC < 1). Higher production of oil palm plantations in Riau is the potential to increase the OPM. The results of calculations by land development and farm productivity, Riau region is still lacking of 16 OPM units with a capacity of 60 tons / hour or identical to 21 OPM units at a capacity of 45 tons / hour. The deficiency in OPM impacts the price and income of oil palm farmers in rural areas. High demand for OPM in Riau is a business opportunity for investors to develop an OPM and industry of products derived from oil palm. DOI : https://doi.org/10.21632/irjbs.6.2.133-147 Keywords: Oil Palm Industry, Regional Carrying Capacity, Investors

The agricultural sector is the second most emitting sector globally, contributing about 18% of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Multipurpose high in-demand commodities like palm oil contribute significantly to these emissions. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) with an objective to make the palm oil sector sustainable, developed a new tool to quantify carbon emissions from palm oil mills. The PalmGHG tool has been used in Southeast Asia to measure carbon emissions from palm oil production and for palm oil certification. However, no studies have used the tool to evaluate GHG emissions from palm oil mills in sub-Saharan Africa, which contributes about 24% of global palm oil production and is home to one of the last remaining primary forests in the world. In this study, we quantify GHG emissions along the crude palm oil (CPO) life cycle in a growing palm oil producing region in Cameroon. We use the RSPO PalmGHG accounting tool, to identify sources of CO2 emissions and quantify them in tons of CO2 equivalent. Six mills across the South West and Center regions of Cameroon were sampled. We found that the sources of carbon emissions from our sampled mills in decreasing order of magnitude are land conversion (78%), palm oil mill effluent (21%), fertilizer use (0.9%), mill fuel combustion (0.1%) and grid electricity utilization (0.04%). The average GHG emissions per ton of crude palm oil produced were exceptionally high at 22.3 tCO2e compared to other palm oil producing regions in the world such as Indonesia with only 1.6 tCO2e/ton of CPO. In addition, we found that planting oil palm on previously logged land instead of primary forest conversion could prevent field emissions by up to about 89% and by up to about 69% for replanting old oil palm stands. Intensification measures like improving palm oil mill extraction rates and improving yields would drastically reduce emissions per ton of crude palm oil produced. Although land conversion associated with deforestation remains the major source of palm oil GHG emissions, farm and mill practices such as reduction in fertilizer use, biogas capture and use of clean energy could help reduce emissions in the long run.

Oil palm is a plant which is quite important commodities in Indonesia and still have a fairly bright development prospects Production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) is the result of work activities in the field of plant maintenance. The success of FFB production depends by several factors, including environmental factors, the crop factor and factor cultivation purpose of this study was to determine and learn the age and size of the trunk palm trees both in achieving production, and Knowing how the relationship between stem diameter and plant age with results production of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). This study used 75 samples are grouped according to the age of the plant that is 2 years, 4 years, 6 years, 8 years and 10 years. Each sample was observed with 7 parameter pengamatanDari results of this study can be concluded that the larger the diameter of the stem of the plant oil palm as well as the age tanama or rather would affect positively correlated or significantly affected the production of oil palm plantation itself. All variables observation showed positive correlation with stem diameter relationship of age with less plant oil palm plantations. But there was one that did not happen correlation / negative correlations were age first fruit the size of a small diameter This is due to many factors such as rainfall is high enough to some areas or plantations are often flooded by rainwater, farming areas mostly are the tidal rivers, especially in 8 years old plantation blocks and handling of the plantation itself is still lacking.

Background: Indonesia is still an energy importer, especially in the form of crude oil and fuel products to meet the needs of its industrial sector. The reduced production of fossil energy, especially oil, as well as the global commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, has prompted the Indonesian government to continue to support the role of new and renewable energy. The production of palm oil-based biodiesel is faced with a number of environmental problems, which may occur from the release of emissions during the production of FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunches), CPO (Crude Palm Oil), and biodiesel. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to compile an LCI (Life Cycle Inventory) covering the production of FFB, CPO, and biodiesel; analyze the environmental impact of the CPO bodysel production process which includes CO2 (eq) emissions, acidification and eutrophication; and develop a life cycle concept for biodiesel production from palm oil as a renewable energy. Methods: The method used in this study is a combination of quantitative LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and qualitative. Findings: The results of this study are LCI in 1 ton of biodiesel consisting of NPK fertilizer of 141.1 Kg; herbicide (0.25 Kg); water (1578 m3), diesel oil (25 Kg); fresh fruit bunches of 5.67 tons; electricity of 33.8 kWh, POME (Palm Oil Mill Effluent) (3,47 m3), CPO needed for biodiesel conversion of 1.17 tons; methanol (0.41 tons), and 0.01 tons of Sodium Hydroxide. The total CO2 emission (eq) of biodiesel production from palm oil is 1489 Kg CO2 (eq), eutrophication is 1.12 Kg PO43- (eq) and acidification is 3.06 Kg SO2 (eq). With the largest contribution of CO2 (eq) emissions in CPO production and the contribution of eutrophication and acidification in oil palm plantations or FFB production (Fresh Fruit Bunches). Environmental hotspot of LCA, CO2 (eq) emissions from palm oil biodiesel production show that 53% mainly comes from POME (Palm Oil Mill Effluent) waste, other contributors are NPK fertilizers (23%), methanol (18%), and diesel oil (7%). Hotspot eutrophication showed that 61% mainly came from NPK fertilizer, methanol (20%), diesel oil (11%), and POME waste (8%). Hotspot acidification showed that 48% mainly came from NPK fertilizers, methanol (28%), POME waste (13%), and diesel oil (11%). Conclusion: The concept of a biodiesel production life cycle can be applied with the best alternative utilization of POME waste with a priority weighting of 0.357 and a CO2(eq) emission criterion of 0.494. From the optimization of the life cycle of biodiesel production with the use of POME, the potential for emission reduction is 667.2 Kg CO2 (eq). Novelty/Originality of this Study: This study's novel application of LCA evaluates the environmental impacts of biodiesel production from palm oil in Indonesia, identifying critical hotspots in CO2 emissions, eutrophication, and acidification. Additionally, it proposes an innovative optimization approach by utilizing POME to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting a viable path for enhancing the sustainability of biodiesel production.

Indonesia has been placed as the world's first producer of crude palm oil and crude palm oil. In producing crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO), the palm oil industry relies heavily on processing fresh fruit bunches (FFB) at palm oil mills (POM) and is traded internationally. However, this process also produces solid organic waste [ i.e. empty bunches (EFB)], which reach up to 25 %% of FFB. The analysis shows that the application of empty bunches as organic fertilizer has not been able to increase the amount of nutrients in palm oil leaves and increase palm oil production. Application of palm oil mill effluent which is able to increase the amount of nutrients in palm oil, especially nitrogen and phosphate, and a positive impact to increase the production of oil palm plantations, especially on productivity (tons / ha).

The oil palm industry is labour-intensive to efficiently sustain the productivity of plantations. This article aims to review the benefits and advantages of mechanisation and introduce the types of machinery available to achieve it. The implementation of mechanisation in the oil palm plantation can help ease the dependence on human labour while avoiding diminishing field output. Fresh fruit bunch (FFB) evacuation involves the transportation of FFBs after harvesting from the field to the mill. The conventional methods for evacuation activities involve the use of wheelbarrows and lorries or tractors. The harvested FFBs will be evacuated using a wheelbarrow from the infield and placed on a platform before being hauled out of the plantation by tractor or lorry to the mill or collection point. New tractors attached with FFB grabbers and the systematic planting of oil palm in rows can help to reduce the amount of labour required and improve the quality of life for plantation workers. The Malaysian palm oil board (MPOB) has developed transport vehicles such as the Hydra-Porter, Grabber, and Beluga that are available to the industry. Optimising FFB evacuation in the oil palm plantation could improve FFB yields. Plantations that implemented the scissor lift trailer and FFB grabber combination could on average collect 27.5 tonnes of FFB a day.

In 2021, the European Union issued a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the halt in palm oil exports. The European Union Parliament considers the palm oil industry in Indonesia to be one of the triggers of deforestation, degradation and other environmental problems. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency in 2019, the area of ??oil palm plantations in Indonesia reached 14.3 million hectares and the area of ??oil palm plantations in the Province was 2.7 million hectares (Yanti and Lestari 2020). This is based on the high demand for oil from palm oil and its derivative products which has an impact on negative externalities due to the extraction process carried out. The Palm Oil Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) production process produces many products such as Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO). Crude palm oil (CPO) production plays an important role in both the local-global environment and socio-economics. In this case, Internalization of Externalities is needed to minimize dirty oil (palm oil waste) which is detrimental to third parties from the management process carried out. Based on the case study of Panyabungan Village, the externality value for liquid palm oil waste is IDR 146,194,433,- after internalizing the externalities, we get a Total Economic Value (TEV) of IDR 627,602,359,- with the liquid waste and solid waste aspects of palm oil in three locations namely; Jambi, Bengkulu and Kalimantan. As a preventive form of assessing externalities, economic and environmental studies also include a SWOT analysis to develop strategies for the sustainability of Palm Oil in Indonesia.

This research is based on the background that oil palm plantations are a form of community farming that cultivates oil palm plants with production in the form of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) as one of their sources of livelihood, although investment in oil palm plantations requires a relatively long period of time compared to oil palm plantations. with other plantation commodities. The purpose of this study was to determine the oil palm farming business in Saliki Village based on FFB production and palm oil prices. The data collection method used in this study is a qualitative method, which is a research that is used if the research factors cannot be quantified or cannot be calculated so that the variables cannot be expressed with numbers such as perceptions, opinions, assumptions and so on. According to qualitative research theory, in order for the research to be of really high quality, the data collected must be complete, namely primary data and secondary data. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that oil palm farming in Saliki Village based on the production of fresh fruit bunches and the price of palm oil really helps farmers increase their income from farming by selling large quantities of produce and high selling prices. The income they generate from oil palm plantations can meet their daily needs. In addition, the community (oil palm farmers) can buy vehicles, renovate and even build houses from the results of the oil palm plantations. The results of this study are to provide information to the community in Saliki Village in order to be able to improve oil palm farming.

The soil water deficits have an after-effect over the time lagged fruiting activities of palms, which subsequently affects the annual fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production in the oil palm plantation. Field data from 2014 to 2018 in a reasonably well managed oil palm estate with three soils of the greater groups of Typic Dystrudept (lnceptisol), Typic Haplohumod (Spodosol) and Typic Haplohemist (Histosol) were analysed. The palms were planted in the years 2004 and 2005, and were producing FFB at its prime plateau age of yield life cycle. The amount of monthly water deficits that results in single or multiple fruiting activities responded quadratically to subsequent annual FFB production in all three soils. With two consecutive total soil water deficits in the years 2014 and 2015, the multiple time lagged fruiting activities from bunch failure to sex differentiation with change in sex ratio favouring male inflorescences resulted in reduced yield in 2016 in all three soils. Typic Haplohumod soils being sandy achieved the lowest yield in 2016. The palms planted on Typic Haplohemist showed rapid decline in crop with the slightest water deficit. The soil derived from Typic Dystrudept gave relatively high FFB production at low water deficit. Keywords: Water deficit, fruiting activity, fresh fruit bunch production, El nino, drought.

In Sumatra, Indonesia, the establishment of oil palm and rubber plantations is widespread. However, it occurs at the expense of forest area. Since global demand for palm oil and rubber is increasing, forest conversion is expected to continue. Furthermore, studies have shown that forest destruction and the establishment of agricultural land uses influence the soil–atmosphere exchange of the climate-relevant trace gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO). Nevertheless, trace gas measurements from oil palm and rubber plantations are scarce. Additionally, researchers have so far not considered oil palm canopy soils as a possible source or sink of trace gases. The present thesis consists of three studies, which assess the impact of forest conversion into smallholder oil palm and rubber plantations on soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes, as well as on soil N2O and NO fluxes, and which investigate the importance of oil palm canopy soil for N2O and CH4 fluxes. We conducted the studies on highly weathered tropical soils in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia and selected two soil landscapes which mainly differ in texture (clay and loam Acrisol). To examine the impact of land-use change on soil trace gas fluxes we investigated four different land uses per landscape: lowland forest and jungle rubber (rubber trees interspersed in secondary forest), as reference land uses, as well as smallholder rubber (7–17 years old) and oil palm plantations (9–16 years old), as converted land uses. Each land use was replicated four times in both landscapes.&#13;\n\tThe first study investigated changes in soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes with forest conversion to smallholder oil palm and rubber plantations. We determined soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes monthly from December 2012 to December 2013, using static vented chambers. Our findings show that soil CO2 fluxes in oil palm plantations were reduced and that fluxes from the other three land uses were comparable among each other in both landscapes. We attributed this decrease to strongly decomposed soil organic matter, reduced soil carbon (C) stocks as well as to phosphorus fertilization and liming, which led to a lower C allocation to roots. Due to reduced nitrogen (N) availability in the converted land uses CH4 uptake was lower in oil palm and rubber when compared to the reference land uses in both landscapes. Thus, soil fertility appeared to be an important controller of soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes in this tropical landscape.&#13;\n\tThe second study focused on the impact of forest conversion into smallholder oil palm and rubber plantations on soil N2O and NO fluxes. Additionally, we compared soil N2O fluxes from smallholder oil palm plantations with fluxes from a large-scale oil palm plantation. We determined soil N2O fluxes monthly from December 2012 to December 2013 in the two landscapes and weekly to bi-weekly from July 2014 to July 2015 in the large-scale oil palm plantation, using static vented chambers. Using open dynamic chambers, we measured soil NO fluxes four times in all land uses of both landscapes between March and September 2013. Our results show that land use change did not affect soil N2O and NO fluxes because of low initial N availability in the reference land uses, so that N2O and NO fluxes were also low, and any changes due to conversion might have been too small to identify. However, the large-scale oil palm plantation, although not significantly different, showed, because of their higher fertilizer input, on average 3.5 times higher soil N2O fluxes than the smallholder oil palm plantations.&#13;\n\tThe aim of the third study was to quantify N2O and CH4 fluxes from oil palm canopy soils. We measured soil N2O and CH4 from three different stem heights in eight smallholder oil palm plantations across the two landscapes from February 2013 to May 2014, on a bi-weekly to monthly basis, using in-situ incubation. Oil palm canopy soil emitted N2O and CH4 from all stem heights. However, fluxes were low compared to ground soil fluxes. This was due to a low amount of canopy soil on a hectare basis and due to high nitrate contents, which might have suppressed CH4 production.&#13;\n\tIn the synthesis of this dissertation, data on soil trace gas fluxes were embedded into a broader context to gain information on changes of the net biome exchange (NBE) and on partial N budgets with land-use change. Soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes were combined with an ancillary study on net primary production and harvest as well as with estimations on the contribution of heterotrophic soil respiration to total soil respiration. Soil N2O and NO fluxes were combined with ancillary studies on N inputs and outputs via fertilization, bulk precipitation, leaching and harvest. The results revealed that the NBE of oil palm plantations was higher compared to forest. Nevertheless, implications for climate change are negative since forest conversion itself results in a huge C loss, which cannot be compensated over time by oil palm plantations. The lowest partial N budget was detected in oil palm, indicating that N inputs via precipitation and fertilization were smaller than the huge N loss via harvest. Overall, these results illustrate that land-use change has negative effects on the C and N budgets of tropical ecosystems.