Modelling beta-carotene Retention in three Nigerian palm oil soups

1. Introduction Nordin, Simeh, Shariff and Baharim (2007), proved in their studies that there is a relationship between the price of crude oil and biodiesel. The results showed that the increase in oil prices during the period of the last few years encouraged some countries to begin to pay attention to the use of alternative fuels, among others from the plant (biodiesel). The increase of petroleum will increase biodiesel production. Ramli, Abas, R. and Ayatollah (2007) in their studies proved that the crude oil price is affected by biodiesel, the first derivative product of palm oil which produces palm oil (known as crude palm oil or abbreviated with CPO), utilizing biodiesel which comes from palm oil, the results showed that the biodiesel increase has affected the crude palm oil price. The development industries based on this CPO in addition directed to produce food products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening, Cocoa Butter subtitute (CBS), and vegetable ghee, it is also directed to produce non-food products, such as industrial oleochemical primary (fatty acid, fatty alcohol, glycerin) and other oleochemical derivatives, namely surfactants, cosmetics, farmacy, and bioenergy. Oil palm plantations and palm oil industry as a means to improve the socio-economic conditions of rural communities through the implementation of operations Inti-Plasma programs (Zen et al., 2006). When the world oil price increases, many countries use CPO as raw material of bio-diesel fuel as a substitute (Karuppuswamy, Sundararaj and Elangovan, 2007; Pociovalisteanu et al., 2010; Thalassinos and Politis, 2012; Thalassinos et al., 2012). These conditions favor the use of biodiesel as a variety of targets alternatives to fossil energy applied to several countries in the world (Kennerly and Neely, 2003). In 2020, the European Union set a target of 10 percent biofuels of raw palm oil. Zen, Barlow and Gondowarsito (2006) studied that the crude oil prices have an influence on the palm oil as pointed out by Ahuja and Khamba (2008). It has been proved that there is an influence of biodiesel on the production of palm oil. The research result on the biodiesel and its impact on crude palm oil and its implications for palm oil, showed that the growing number of biodiesel has a positive and significant effect towards crude oil palm as well as the implications for the production of palm oil rises (Ashayeri, 2007). The increase of demand and the use of palm oil as a fuel is expected to cause disruption of the availability of CPO as raw materials for food, especially palm oil (Chand and Shirvani, 2000; Enkawa and Schvaneveldt, 2001). Novelty of this research is to add the existing variables into world oil price of the biodiesel and its impact on crude palm oil and its effect on oil palm. 2. Theory and Hypothesis As Santoso (2014) has pointed out bio-diesel is a natural renewable energy source that made from biomass or vegetable oil. As the bio-diesel has physical properties very similar to petroleum derived diesel fuel or ADO (Automobile Diesel Oil), bio-diesel has been used for motor engine since 1880's. In 1920's, bio-diesel production infrastructure has been nearly eliminated since diesel engine manufacturers altered their engine to utilize petroleum diesel that was much cheaper than Bio-diesel production. Recently, an increase on oil consumption, crude oil price, and ADO import have lead to consider bio-diesel utilization for transportation sector in Indonesia. An increase of the crude oil price that lead to a decreasing cost differential for bio-diesel production, bio-diesel utilization as alternative energy source in Indonesia is a real possibility. Some environmental impact concerns would also increase the bio-diesel utilization prospect. Oil palm is a highly profitable crop adapted to the humid tropics and the area devoted to this crop is likely to expand significantly in the future. It has many environmentally favourable attributes over its full life cycle. …

1. Introduction Nordin, Simeh, Shariff and Baharim (2007), proved in their studies that there is a relationship between the price of crude oil and biodiesel. The results showed that the increase in oil prices during the period of the last few years encouraged some countries to begin to pay attention to the use of alternative fuels, among others from the plant (biodiesel). The increase of petroleum will increase biodiesel production. Ramli, Abas, R. and Ayatollah (2007) in their studies proved that the crude oil price is affected by biodiesel, the first derivative product of palm oil which produces palm oil (known as crude palm oil or abbreviated with CPO), utilizing biodiesel which comes from palm oil, the results showed that the biodiesel increase has affected the crude palm oil price. The development industries based on this CPO in addition directed to produce food products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening, Cocoa Butter subtitute (CBS), and vegetable ghee, it is also directed to produce non-food products, such as industrial oleochemical primary (fatty acid, fatty alcohol, glycerin) and other oleochemical derivatives, namely surfactants, cosmetics, farmacy, and bioenergy. Oil palm plantations and palm oil industry as a means to improve the socio-economic conditions of rural communities through the implementation of operations Inti-Plasma programs (Zen et al., 2006). When the world oil price increases, many countries use CPO as raw material of bio-diesel fuel as a substitute (Karuppuswamy, Sundararaj and Elangovan, 2007; Pociovalisteanu et al., 2010; Thalassinos and Politis, 2012; Thalassinos et al., 2012). These conditions favor the use of biodiesel as a variety of targets alternatives to fossil energy applied to several countries in the world (Kennerly and Neely, 2003). In 2020, the European Union set a target of 10 percent biofuels of raw palm oil. Zen, Barlow and Gondowarsito (2006) studied that the crude oil prices have an influence on the palm oil as pointed out by Ahuja and Khamba (2008). It has been proved that there is an influence of biodiesel on the production of palm oil. The research result on the biodiesel and its impact on crude palm oil and its implications for palm oil, showed that the growing number of biodiesel has a positive and significant effect towards crude oil palm as well as the implications for the production of palm oil rises (Ashayeri, 2007). The increase of demand and the use of palm oil as a fuel is expected to cause disruption of the availability of CPO as raw materials for food, especially palm oil (Chand and Shirvani, 2000; Enkawa and Schvaneveldt, 2001). Novelty of this research is to add the existing variables into world oil price of the biodiesel and its impact on crude palm oil and its effect on oil palm. 2. Theory and Hypothesis As Santoso (2014) has pointed out bio-diesel is a natural renewable energy source that made from biomass or vegetable oil. As the bio-diesel has physical properties very similar to petroleum derived diesel fuel or ADO (Automobile Diesel Oil), bio-diesel has been used for motor engine since 1880's. In 1920's, bio-diesel production infrastructure has been nearly eliminated since diesel engine manufacturers altered their engine to utilize petroleum diesel that was much cheaper than Bio-diesel production. Recently, an increase on oil consumption, crude oil price, and ADO import have lead to consider bio-diesel utilization for transportation sector in Indonesia. An increase of the crude oil price that lead to a decreasing cost differential for bio-diesel production, bio-diesel utilization as alternative energy source in Indonesia is a real possibility. Some environmental impact concerns would also increase the bio-diesel utilization prospect. Oil palm is a highly profitable crop adapted to the humid tropics and the area devoted to this crop is likely to expand significantly in the future. It has many environmentally favourable attributes over its full life cycle. …

In the past 30 years, palm oil production has increased ninefold, with almost all the growth occurring in Malaysia and Indonesia. This growth has been associated with extensive deforestation, with biofuels often named as the principal driver. However, other drivers have been less examined; in particular, restrictions on genetically modified food in Europe and on trans fats in many developed countries have led food companies to switch to using palm oil in production. This article uses a price analysis to examine the drivers of palm oil production growth during the 1980–2010 boom. Soya bean oil is used in the analysis as the leading vegetable oil, while crude oil represents the energy market; the prices of these oils, along with palm oil, are tested in vector autoregression (VAR) and vector error correction models. The two models consistently find that palm oil prices do not appear to respond to short-run fluctuations in crude oil prices. Rather, they are a function of lagged palm oil prices and current and lagged soya bean oil prices. Overall, the results indicate that while palm and soya bean oil markets have a potentially significant relationship, the crude oil market does not appear to have been an important driver of the palm oil boom.

The study aims at assessing the physicochemical properties, heavy metals, and aflatoxins content of crude palm and groundnut oils produced and sold in the Adikpo, Wadata, and Otukpa areas of Benue state, Nigeria. Specific gravity, refractive index, acid value, saponification value, peroxide value, moisture content, and smoke point are the physicochemical properties evaluated. The heavy metals analyzed include; Lead, Nickel, Copper, Iron, Arsenic, and Iron. Total aflatoxins were determined by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Findings revealed that most of the physicochemical properties of palm and groundnut oils from these areas deviated from the Food and Agricultural Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) standard range. A high amount of Cadmium (0.89 mg/kg, 1.01 mg/kg, and 0.92 mg/kg) was detected in the local groundnut oil samples but lesser in palm oils from Adikpo, Wadata, and Otukpa respectively, while Copper content was within the FAO/WHO safe limits. The arsenic content of palm oil produced in the region was not as high as those in groundnut oil but was higher than the recommended maximum limit of 0.1 mg/kg. The Nickel content in the oil samples was higher than the 0.50 mg/kg permissible limit, but Lead was within the safe limits. Total Aflatoxin content in crude groundnut oil was within the range of 9.05 ppm to 10.13 ppm, while a range of 2.03 ppm to 2.74 ppm was recorded in crude palm oil. The locally produced oils are of lower quality, suggesting that refining should be adopted and quality seeds should be used for the extraction of oils.

Palm, soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oils comprise 70% of the world’s edible vegetable oil supply. Among these four oils, palm oil has a very high annual growth rate, primarily because it has the highest productivity at 5 tons oil/hectare compared with 0.30 for soybean oil, 0.37 for rapeseed oil, and 0.42 for sunflower oil (1). Currently, Malaysia is the largest producer and exporter of palm oil. In 2002, Malaysia produced 11.9 million metric tons (MMT) of crude palm oil and 1.5 MMT of crude palm kernel oil (PKO) (2). The commitment of the government in ensuring a steady supply of the oils as well as the added advantage of tocotrienols and carotenes in the oils led to the exportation of 10.6 and 0.7 MMT of processed palm oil and palm kernel oil, respectively (Table 30.1). Malaysia now produces more palm oil than all of the other countries in the world combined; the oil is consumed in >150 countries.

African oil palm has the highest productivity amongst cultivated oleaginous crops. Species can constitute a single crop capable to fulfill the growing global demand for vegetable oils, which is estimated to reach 240 million tons by 2050. Two types of vegetable oil are extracted from the palm fruit on commercial scale. The crude palm oil and kernel palm oil have different fatty acid profiles, which increases versatility of the crop in industrial applications. Plantations of the current varieties have economic life-span around 25–30 years and produce fruits around the year. Thus, predictable annual palm oil supply enables marketing plans and adjustments in line with the economic forecasts. Oil palm cultivation is one of the most profitable land uses in the humid tropics. Oil palm fruits are the richest plant source of pro-vitamin A and vitamin E. Hence, crop both alleviates poverty, and could provide a simple practical solution to eliminate global pro-vitamin A deficiency. Oil palm is a perennial, evergreen tree adapted to cultivation in biodiversity rich equatorial land areas. The growing demand for the palm oil threatens the future of the rain forests and has a large negative impact on biodiversity. Plant science faces three major challenges to make oil palm the key element of building the future sustainable world. The global average yield of 3.5 tons of oil per hectare (t) should be raised to the full yield potential estimated at 11–18t. The tree architecture must be changed to lower labor intensity and improve mechanization of the harvest. Oil composition should be tailored to the evolving needs of the food, oleochemical and fuel industries. The release of the oil palm reference genome sequence in 2013 was the key step toward this goal. The molecular bases of agronomically important traits can be and are beginning to be understood at the single base pair resolution, enabling gene-centered breeding and engineering of this remarkable crop.

<p>One of the biodiesel production problems is the high price of plant oil as a raw material, causing the high cost of biodiesel in the market and less competitive compared to the diesel fossil fuel. Most biodiesel production plants which, are located far from the raw material source, especially from palm oil mill, and are not integrated with palm oil mill can cause the cost of raw material even higher, and hence increased biodiesel production cost. This problem needs to be anticipated and solved by integrating the biodiesel plant with the palm oil mill, so that some of the crude palm oil produced or off-grade palm oil recovered from POME can be processed and converted to biodiesel product. Biodiesel can further be used as diesel-substitute fuel for the operation of palm plantation and palm oil mill. With this integration concept, the investment and production costs can be less because of the availability of crude oil raw material and utilities (water, steam and electricity) in the palm oil mill. To implement the idea of integration strategy to become reality, the development of engineering design of biodiesel plant integrated with palm oil mill is needed with the consideration of some technical aspects of : (i) the internal need of diesel fuel, (ii) supply of raw material, (iii) the selected production process, (iv) the availability of utilities and, (v) calculation of estimated investment and production costs. The concept of integration is the combined and merged business of biodiesel production and palm plantation and oil mill. This concept will give the optimum profit and benefit for utilization of crude palm oil or off-grade palm oil for producing biodiesel to substitute the consumption of diesel fuel in the palm industries. <br /><strong>Keywords:</strong> Biodiesel, Biodiesel Plant, Diesel Fuel Substitution, Integrated Biodiesel Plant, Palm Oil Mill</p>

Biomass by-products or plant residues from the plantation system would play a crucial role in animal production since the utilization of forages from the underneath tree crops would be less or minimal when the palm oil crop mature. By-products generated from the palm oil system vary, but in relation to the animal production they could be generally categorized into the fibrous by-products and the non-fibrous (concentrate) by-products. Palm oil mill effluent (POME) and palm kernel cake (PKC) are concentrate by-products produced during the processing of palm oil extraction which have great potency to support sheep and goat production, although limiting factors such as contamination of shell and high copper level in PKC need to be considered in their utilization as feed. The fibrous palm oil by-products include oil palm fronds (OPF) and oil palm trunk (OPT) generated from the palm crop trees and oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and palm pressed fiber (PPF) generated from processing of fresh fruits to yield crude oil. These fibrous by-products cannot meet the metabolisable energy required for high growth rate and for lactation of sheep and goats due to low DM digestibility, low crude protein content, low fermentable carbohydrate and low level of intake. Limited inclusion level in ration should be applied for those by-products to yield an acceptable production level of sheep and goats. Pretreatments (physical, chemical, and biological) gave some improvement in their nutritional qualities, however additional cost of pretreatments need to be considered. In the future, there would be a great challenge for the utilization of those fibrous by-products as animal feed since bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials to products such as chemicals (bioethanol, sugar, and bioplastic), fuels, and organic fertilizers are receiving greater interest. Some comparative advantages of these natural wastes are their relatively low cost, renewable and widespread in nature for used in an industrial operation.

Delivering β-carotene from O/W emulsion-based systems: Influence of phase ratio and carrier lipid composition

The production of crude palm oil in Malaysia fluctuated from 1.2 million tonnes in 2010 to 1.8 million tonnes in 2018. For the domestic consumption of crude palm oil in Malaysia increase gradually between 2.2 million tonnes in 2010 and 3.6 million tonnes in 2018. Besides that, Malaysia was one of the major oil exporters among the 10 countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the exports of palm oil constituted about 90% of Malaysia's palm oil production. The exports of palm oil in Malaysia fluctuated from 1.3 million tonnes in 2010 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2018 whereas the imports of Malaysia's crude palm oil also fluctuated significantly from 121,300 tonnes in 2010 to 108,600 tonnes in 2018. Recently, there were many accusations on palm oil in Malaysia due to the environmental unfriendly product by the European Parliament and decided to ban palm oil biofuel by 2020. This will have negative impact on the company value (company's share price) by reduction in the revenue for the palm oil production companies. Moreover, palm oil was one of the most important agricultural commodities in the world and it was also the fourth-largest contributor to the Malaysian economy. Malaysia's palm oil industry has been a prominent industry that created economic growth and development. Therefore, this research was very important because the world's palm oil production was growing every year, driven largely by the growth of the European Union's biofuel markets and food demand in India and China (Clay, 2013). The palm oil industry facing the another challenging issue was to demonstrate its commitment to sustainable palm oil production. To overcome this issue, many agricultural food industries were promoting certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) as proof of sustainability in the palm oil supply chain and achieved the buyer's demand (May, 2012). This situation has raised uncertainty to investigate the determinants of the company value in Malaysia's palm oil industry. Furthermore, there are many researchers had done the research over the past few decades, so there are many different perspectives on the determinants of company value in the palm oil industry in Malaysia. Keywords: Environmental Accounting (EA), Environmental Performance (EP), Information Disclosure (IN), Company Value (CV), Malaysian Selected Palm Oil Listed Companies.

Malaysia is currently the world leader in the production and export of palm oil. This study has a gate to gate system boundary. The inventory data collection starts at the oil palm fresh fruit bunch hoppers when the fresh fruit bunch is received at the mill up till the production of the crude palm oil in the storage tanks at the mill. The plantation phase and land use for the production of oil palm fresh fruit bunch is not included in this system boundary. This gate to gate case study of 12 mills identifies the potential impacts associated with the production of palm oil using the life cycle assessment approach and evaluates opportunities to overcome the potential impacts. Most of the impact categories show savings rather than impact. Within the system boundary there are only two main parameters that are causing the potential impacts to the environment; they are the Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) followed by the boiler ash. The impact categories that the POME contributes to are under the Respiratory Organics and Climate Change. Both these impact categories are related to air emissions. The main air emission from the POME ponds during the anaerobic digestion is the biogas which consists of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of hydrogen sulfide. An alternate scenario was conducted to see how the impact will be if the biogas was harvested and used as energy and the results shows that when the biogas is harvested, the impact from the POME is removed. The other significant impact is the boiler ash. This is the ash that is produced when the biomass is burnt in the boiler. This potential impact contributes to the ecotoxicity impact category. This is mainly because of the disposal of this ash which in most cases was used for land application in the roads leading to the mil or in the plantations. If the parameters causing these two potential impacts are curbed, then this will be a further plus point for the Malaysian oil palm industry which is already avoiding fossil fuel based energy and chemical use for processing.

Accounting for potential GHG emissions from the palm oil production is essential to demonstrate partly how responsible palm oil production can be carried out. Results of the GHG emission calculation from certified RSPO members using the RSPO PalmGHG Calculator are collated and reported. The potential sources of GHG emission that result directly from production of palm oil are enumerated. The cumulative impact, which affects the final carbon balance in the production of crude palm oil (CPO), is quantified. The analysis helps to identify GHG emission hotspots so that mitigation plans can be developed and implemented. The aim is to minimise and reduce GHG emissions that result from production of palm oil. The emission from planting on peat, land conversion, and POME are the major sources of emission in CPO production. Peat is the most dominant contributing factor to GHG emission. Land conversion emission is dependent on the type of land cover which was converted to oil palm. Converting land cover with higher carbon stocks such as secondary forest to oil palm will cause higher GHG emission than converting land cover with lower carbon stocks such as shrubland. Emission from POME is significant and construction of methane capture can reduce the POME emission significantly. Sequestration from conservation areas and emission credit from export of biomass and electricity has a moderate positive impact on the GHG emission. Emission from existing certified RSPO plantations during the period of January 2015 to August 2017 is 3.33 tCO2e/tCPO for peat area and 0.94 tCO2e/tCPO for non-peat area. This is lower compared to average GHG emissions of the oil palm industry of 10. 6 tCO2e/tCPO for peat area and 1. 73 tCO2e/tCPO for non-peat area. Keywords: LCA, RSPO, PalmGHG, GHG emissions, palm oil.

Palm oil is, from an economic, environmental, and social point of view, a vegetable oil with great potential and the state of Pará-Brazil is Brazil’s great producer. In addition, soap phase residue or palm oil neutralization sludge (PONS), a byproduct of the neutralization step of the chemical refinement of palm oil, is produced, posing a huge problem for waste disposal and management in the production process of refined palm oil (RPO). In this context, this work aims to systematically investigate the economic analysis of the thermal–catalytic process of crude palm oil (CPO) and palm oil neutralization sludge (PONS). The thermocatalytic processes of CPO and PONS carried out at pilot scale and their economic feasibility were analyzed. The yields of biofuels produced by fractional distillation were also presented. The physicochemical properties of CPO and PONS, as well as those of organic liquid products obtained by the thermal–catalytic process of CPO and PONS were taken into account in the economic analysis. In addition, the chemical composition organic liquid products obtained by thermal–catalytic process of CPO and PONS, as well as its distillation fractions (green gasoline, green kerosene, green light diesel and heavy diesel), used as key factors/indicators on the economic analysis. The analysis of the key factors/indicators from the thermocatalytic processes of CPO and PONS showed economic viability for both crude palm oil (Elaeis guineensis, Jacq) and palm oil neutralization sludge. The minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) obtained in this work for the biofuels was 1.59 USD/L using crude palm oil (CPO) and 1.34 USD/L using palm oil neutralization sludge (PONS). The best breakeven point obtained was of 1.24 USD/L considering the PONS. The sensibility analysis demonstrated that the pyrolysis and distillation yields are the most important variables that affect the minimum fuel-selling price (MFSP) in both economic analyses.

Conventional palm and groundnut cooking oils have been photolysed using a medium UV photochemical lamp. Room temperature photolysis of crude palm oil led principally to decarboxylation of the residual free fatty acid. H2O - treated palm oil, however, produced mainly additional fatty acid on photolysis. Decarboxylation of untreated palm oil achieved a 95% reduction in baseline free fatty acid value within the first 10 minutes. This was followed by a gradual and linear drop in the acid value below the baseline value. Decarboxylation was also the major reaction in the acetone-sensitised crude palm oil photolysis. The decarboxylation rate was, however, slightly lower than the unsensitised reaction. In the case of groundnut oil, unsensitised and acetone-sensitised system showed similar behaviour within the first 10 minutes. For the unsensitised system, a substantial rise in acid value above baseline value was followed by decarboxylation to an acid value well below baseline in 60 minutes. For the sensitized system, the acid value remained constant at about 59% above baseline value in the 10 to 30 minutes reaction interval. Beyond 30 minutes, it rose by as much as 155% above baseline. The rise then slowed down somewhat after 45 minutes of reaction.Nigerian Journal of Chemical Research Vol. 7 2002: 8-13

In the last decades, oil palm cultivation has increased rapidly to meet the rising demands for vegetable oils worldwide. While in the 1970s, two million tons of palm oil on 3.3 million hectares of land were produced worldwide, production levels have increased by 36 times in 2019, to around 72.3 million tons on 28.3 million hectares of land. There are two main reasons for the rapid expansion. Oil palms can produce more tons per hectare compared to any other crop. In addition, it is very versatile in its use and can be used in the food industry, for cosmetics, industrial and agrochemical products, and biodiesel.
\nIndonesia has been the biggest oil palm producer worldwide since 2008. The oil palm boom has brought economic benefits such as increases in incomes and living standards for the producers and others along the value chain. Besides the economic benefits that the oil palm industry has entailed, the massive land-use transformation and the common management practices applied have led to immense environmental degradation that affects the local population, rural and urban, but also beyond borders. 
\nAgainst this background, the focus of this dissertation is on the economic and environmental trade-offs of oil palm cultivation. The dissertation also addresses the environmental dimension of oil palm cultivation by examining climate change perceptions, environmental concern, and pro-environmental behavior among the local population. The present dissertation comprises three essays and addresses three broad research objectives: First, to assess the adoption decisions of an agricultural technology that generates positive environmental effects among small-scale oil palm farmers to support sustainable oil palm cultivation; second, to examine the environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior among the local population in a setting characterized by a rapid land-use transformation in the Global South; and third, to understand climate change perceptions among small-scale oil palm farmers in a setting of rapid land-use change. The analysis of the three essays relies on primary data collection in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia, from 2019 and 2020 and consists of a total of 757 respondents, where 408 are oil palm farmers and 349 are respondents from Jambi City. This research was conducted in the frame of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 990: Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation System (EFForTS) in Indonesia. 
\nThe first essay focuses on the adoption of an agricultural technology that is socially desirable and generates positive environmental effects with delayed private benefits for the adopters. In the case of welfare-enhancing technologies such as improved seeds or fertilizer, scholars have shown that subsidies can be an adequate instrument to motivate adoption. Yet, for agricultural technologies such as native tree planting, that are socially desirable and need maintenance evidence remains limited on how to stimulate adoption, tree survival, and additional investments into this technology effectively. We implemented two policy interventions with oil palm smallholders to analyze the adoption of native tree planting, tree survival, and engagement in additional planting efforts. In the first treatment, oil palm farmers received information with regards to native tree planting and three native tree seedlings for free (subsidy treatment). In the second treatment, oil palm farmers received the same information about native tree planting and had then the opportunity to buy three native tree seedlings through an auction mechanism (price treatment). Our results show that under a subsidy scheme, farmers have a higher probability to plant the tree seedlings they received and they also plant more tree seedlings compared to the treatment where farmers had the opportunity to buy the seedlings. The higher planting intensity in the subsidy treatment led to a higher tree survival rate. Yet, we find a tendency towards more additional planting efforts in the price treatment pointing towards crowding-out effects of farmers in the subsidy treatment. The cost-effectiveness analysis that we conducted, reflects our results when focussing only on the trees that we provided. More tree seedlings were planted in the subsidy treatment which was also more expensive compared to the price treatment. The cost-effectiveness is higher for the price treatment when including additional planting efforts. This is driven by few farmers though.
\nThe second essay addresses environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior among the local population living in an oil palm cultivating hotspot in the Global South. Scholars have shown that negative environmental repercussions have an effect on environmental concern and the engagement in pro-environmental behavior of individuals. Environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior both indirectly or directly influence decisions made about the sustainable use of natural resources. For policymakers, it is highly relevant to understand how the local population thinks and behaves to develop more targeted policy and outreach instruments to support sustainable land-use changes. While there exists literature on environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior in industrialized nations focusing on rural-urban differences, evidence is scarce for societies in the Global South. In this study, we examine environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior in the Global South where people live in an oil palm cultivating hotspot and in a setting characterized by a rapid land-use transformation. Our results reveal that overall rural residents are significantly more concerned than urban respondents. This is true for general environmental concern, as well as for the specific oil palm concern which shows that oil palm farmers might be aware of the environmental effects of oil palm cultivation. We also find that connectedness with nature, connectedness with oil palms, and the preference for more heterogeneous landscapes are important determinants for environmental concern. For pro-environmental behavior, we find that rural respondents engage more. A higher connectedness with oil palms decreased the engagement in pro-environmental behavior among the respondents while the hours participated in other environmental activities are positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior.
\nThe third essay of this dissertation analyzes climate change perceptions of Indonesian small-scale oil palm farmers. The implications that climate change has on agriculture and vice versa are already visible today. On the one hand, the number and severity of climate change-related weather events have increased. On the other hand, agriculture contributes to climate change with the release of huge amounts of CO2. Much of the global warming that is experienced today and for the next 30 years is based on emissions that have already been released into the atmosphere. Yet, the degree of future global warming highly depends on emissions of today and the near future. Hence, adaptation strategies have to become a central strategy today to slow down and decrease the implications of climate change and agriculture on each other in the long term. To do so, climate change perceptions of individuals need to be well understood to develop suitable strategies. In this regard, scholars have shown that farmers seem to be aware of climate change and its potential effects to varying degrees. Important sociodemographic factors that are associated with climate change perceptions are education, age, and wealth amongst others. Yet, evidence remains limited for climate change awareness and the perceived affectedness of small-scale oil palm farmers living in a setting of rapid land-use transformation. In this study, we analyze determinants of climate change awareness and perceived affectedness of small-scale oil palm farmers. Our results reveal that about three-quarters of the respondents are aware of climate change and almost 60 percent feel personally affected by it. Important factors associated with climate change awareness and perceived affectedness are education, age, and wealth. Finally, the experience of extreme weather events seems to not strongly be associated with the climate change perceptions of the oil palm farmers.
\nThis dissertation contributes to the actual state of research with regards to the economic and environmental trade-offs of oil palm cultivation as well as to the environmental dimension by examining climate change perceptions, environmental concern, and pro-environmental behavior among the local population. The results indicate firstly, that the adoption of native tree planting can be enhanced by a policy mix that involves the distribution of subsidized tree seedlings as well as value chain development to address multiple barriers to native tree seedlings. Secondly, environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior differ significantly between rural and urban residents, and hence, to overcome a lack of disconnectedness between the general public and the agrarian transformation and strengthen environmental concern and pro-environmental behavior, the spread of information and environmental education seem to be promising. Finally, to support the development of suitable climate change adaptation strategies relevant knowledge needs to be spread among the farmers to create more climate change awareness. Furthermore, as the financial means of the farmers differ but are associated with being better equipped regarding adaptation measures, especially, the poorer farmers need to receive suitable support when it comes to the adoption of adaptation measures taking potential barriers, e.g. financial means, into account.