Oil Palm Land Use Change and Rice Sustainability in South Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

The massive development of oil palm plantations has made Indonesia the country with the largest land area of oil palm production in the world. However, it is feared that the massive development of oil palm will disrupt national food security. This paper aims to examine the implications of the development of oil palm plantations on the sustainability of rice plants in South Sumatra. The data for analysis are secondary data from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Statistics Agency of Indonesia. The results showed that, in the period of 1991–2017, the oil palm land area in South Sumatra increased by more than the rice area. Several districts have become centers of oil palm development, especially Musi Banyuasin and OKU. Although it is increasing rapidly, the development of oil palm does not interfere with the sustainability of rice in South Sumatra, which can be seen from the increase of the land area and productivity of rice. The areas of oil palm land in Musi Banyuasin and OKU is dominant over that of rice. With the more rapid development of the oil palm land area, in the next few years the dominance of oil palm plantations over rice will occur in several districts in South Sumatra.