Review

Outlook on Agriculture
2019, Vol. 48(3) 190–197
The challenge of the oil palm: Using ª The Author(s) 2019

degraded land for its cultivation Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0030727019858720
journals.sagepub.com/home/oag

HJW Mutsaers

Abstract
Palm oil is a valuable product used all over the world in a vast number of products for daily use. The oil palm, once well
established, is very productive, captures large amounts of carbon and provides good protection to the soil. The use of
residues as fuel makes oil extraction plants self-sufficient in energy and produces surplus electricity. A large part of the
plant nutrients can be recycled by composting empty fruit bunches, with palm oil mill effluent and ashes added. Small-
holders contribute close to 50% of the palm oil traded worldwide. The crop has acquired a bad reputation, however,
because of the forests which have been and continue to be cleared for new plantations. The rate of forest clearing has
been particularly high in Indonesia and Malaysia, with Thailand and some African countries following at a distance. Forests
on peat soils are also increasingly used, releasing even larger amounts of CO2 from peat decomposition. In the ecologies
where oil palm thrives, vast expanses of speargrass (Imperata cylindrica) have resulted from logging and injudicious land use,
including poorly managed plantations. Although speargrass is hard to get rid of, a sequence of annual and perennial plant
species is capable to suppress the grass, opening a window for planting oil palm in the degraded land. A well-established oil
palm crop will then keep the grass out, because of the latter’s intolerance for shade. Thus, the oil palm’s image in the eyes
of the public as an ecological disaster can be converted into its opposite: that of a tool to restore the productive capacity
of degraded lands. Vast numbers of smallholders can thereby safeguard their livelihood. The oil palm industry has the
means and skills to make this happen.

Keywords
Oil palm, palm oil, plantations, smallholders, agroforestry, degraded land, imperata cylindrica, speargrass, alang-alang, bush
fire, sub-climax

Introduction: The oil palm at issue rains and excessive heat. And when the palms are still
young a creeping cover crop will usually be interplanted,
Palm oil is suspect. While it constitutes an essential com-
which also protects the soil against erosion and, in the case
ponent of countless products for daily use, the palm from of a leguminous cover crop, fixes atmospheric nitrogen as
which the oil is obtained has acquired a bad reputation well. Furthermore, the oil palm captures considerable
because of the forests which have been and continue to amounts of CO2, both during its juvenile stage and later
be cleared for oil palm plantations. And not just in Malay- at fruit-bearing age, while a mature forest releases as much
sia and Indonesia, the world’s largest producers of palm oil, CO2 from decomposition of dead biomass and soil organic
but also in Thailand, Cameroun, Nigeria and Ghana, to matter1 as it binds through new growth and therefore makes
name just a few. In Indonesia especially, the area planted no net contribution to CO2 reduction. So, one would think
to oil palm has grown spectacularly in the last two decades, that the oil palm is an ecologically interesting and envir-
from 4 million hectares in 2000 to almost 12 million today onmentally friendly crop, except that the forest, which has
(Gapki, 2017), thereby overtaking Malaysia as the world’s often been slashed for its establishment, is superior in its
largest producer of palm oil. India, the world’s largest floral and faunal composition. Furthermore, the decompo-
importer of palm oil (Palm Oil Analytics, 2017), also sition of the slashed forest vegetation and of the soil
intends to realise a vast increase in its palm oil industry, organic matter built up over many years release large
but, with just 300,000 hectare of planted area (Oil Seeds
Division, 2016), for the time being, it remains a small
player. Retired Farming Systems agronomist.
The oil palm has features which in principle make it an
Corresponding author:
environmentally stable crop: once well established a HJW Mutsaers, Hamelakkerlaan 9, Wageningen, 6703 EE, The
mature plantation forms a closed canopy providing effec- Netherlands.
tive protection of the soil against the impact of torrential Email: [email protected]
Mutsaers 191

amounts of CO2 into the air. The public concern about the Table 1. Approximate total oil palm area and percentage of
negative ecological impact of oil palm plantations is smallholdings in some producing countries (2010–2012).
informed mostly by the latter aspects, whereas the former
Country Total area (ha) Smallholder as % of total
are often disregarded. The section about the crop’s ecolo-
gical profile will come back to these issues. Malaysia 4,360,000 40
Indonesia 6,500,000 38
Thailand 645,000 80
A crop with two faces Papua New Guinea 134,000 40
The oil palm in West African culture Nigeria 457,000 61
Ghana 370,000 89
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is indigenous in the Cameroun 124,000 71
humid zone of West and Central Africa, where it forms an Ivory Coast 265,000 80
integral part of the vegetation and of the cropping systems. Colombia 300,000 Small estates
Its produce is of great economic and nutritional value in the Source: Corley and Tinker (2016, tables 1.4 and 1.9).
area and includes: red oil, extracted from the fruit’s fleshy
mesocarp, seed kernel oil, palm wine tapped from the
Southeast Asia from West Africa in the second half of the
inflorescence or the tree apex, palm fronds for thatching,
19th century. After a period of observation and multiplica-
and not to forget, the residual cakes from oil processing,
tion in botanical gardens in Indonesia and Malaysia, the
used for kindling fire. An intricate village industry for oil
first plantations were created in both countries at the begin-
extraction exists all over West Africa, probably most ela-
ning of the 20th century. The rate of growth of the area
borate in Western Nigeria and in Benin Republic. The red
under oil palm increased significantly after the World War
oil obtained by local extraction is an entirely different prod-
II, both in Africa and in Asia, and to a lesser extent in Latin
uct than the ‘refined’ palm oil of commerce. The latter
America. Asia soon caught up on Africa, eventually over-
comes in two types obtained by fractioning and clarifying
taking it by far, especially in the last few decades. Today,
crude oil: a liquid olein and a solid stearin fraction. The red
many countries are eager to increase their oil palm acreage
oil, mostly produced artisanally, is a mixture of both and
in view of the perceived promise of the crop as the major
often has a high content of carotenes and tocopherol, which
producer of biofuel, or as a substitute for imported oil, with
are partly or wholly destroyed in the refining process. The
India prominent among them (Oil Seeds Division, 2016).
red oil is a much appreciated part of West African food
The bulk of the world’s palm oil of trade is now pro-
habits2 and has additional health value because of its con-
duced in large and small plantations, with smallholders
tent of carotenes and tocopherol.
accounting for around 50% world wide, either as indepen-
In the wetter areas wild oil palm groves occur, while in
dent growers or as outgrowers of large industrial plants. In
the subhumid zone, palms grow scattered at low density in
some countries, smallholders even produce the bulk of the
secondary forests and on farm land. Seedlings from
commercial crop (Table 1).
dropped seeds are carefully protected by farmers during
fallow periods, along with other useful trees. In the best
case, this results in a traditional agroforestry system with Ecological profile of the oil palm
annual crops (e.g. maize and cassava) alternating with nat-
ural fallow, and a permanent over-storey of useful trees In its natural habitat, the forest zone of West Africa, the oil
including oil palms at low density. In Mono province of palm forms a stable, self-replicating component of the
Benin Republic which is marginal for palm oil production, vegetation, from which the villagers obtain a range of valu-
oil palm seedlings are planted between rows of annual able products. The palm also fits smoothly into local recur-
crops and after a few years they convert into a fairly dense rent cropping systems,4 where it forms an open, self-seeded
oil palm fallow. The palms are felled after 10–15 years and over-storey in the food crop fields. The seedlings and
sugary sap is tapped from the growing points for the pro- young palms are protected by the famers, along with other
duction of palm wine (Kang et al., 1991). perennials, such as timber or fruit trees. As long as the
fallow vegetation is dominated by drought-tolerant shrubs
(e.g. Chromolaena odorata (L) RM King and H Rob) and
The oil palm as an industrial crop dicotyledonous herbs, which are less liable to be affected
Palm oil entered into the international trade in earnest as by bush fires, the palms cross over smoothly from one
early as the beginning of the 19th century.3 Initially it was cropping period to the next. The system thus forms a fairly
extracted from fruit collected in natural groves in West stable agro-forestry, as long as the cropping intensity does
Africa, and the first successful commercial plantations not cause soil degradation, which may lead to the invasion
were set up in Congo-Kinshasa by William Lever in the of the fallow by fire-sensitive grasses. When that happens,
early 20th century. The planted area in Africa then started the seedlings of most perennials including oil palm will be
increasing steadily, but natural groves and ‘agroforestry destroyed by fire and disappear from the system. The vege-
palms’ remained the major source of commercial oil for a tation then tends to a shrub savannah type. In the West
long time (for more details on the early history of commer- African forest-savannah transition zone, for example, per-
cial palm oil production, see Cramb and Curry, 2012 and ennial grasses such as speargrass (Imperata cylindrica (L)
Rival and Levang, 2014). The oil palm was introduced in Raeuschel) may intrude into the vegetation and replace
192 Outlook on Agriculture 48(3)

Chromolaena as the dominant fallow species, in which case

the oil palm will eventually succumb to dry season bush
fires (Mutsaers, 2007).
The major reason for the oil palm’s huge success as a
plantation crop in Asia, is its innate productive capacity,
when grown under a favourable climate with high insola-
tion rates and infrequent drought periods (Corley and Tin-
ker, 2016; Nouy et al., 1999). Current yields of palm oil in
Indonesia and Malaysia average between 4 and 4.5 t/ha and
palm kernel oil around 0.5 t/ha for adult palms, while mean
yields in none of the African countries exceed 2.5 t/ha palm
oil. This is not just due to more favourable physical condi-
tions in SE Asia, with less frequent moisture stress than in
Africa; management factors play a major role as well, and
probably the greatest (Woittiez et al., 2017). Simulated Figure 1. Oil palm seedlings, ready for planting photograph by
potential (radiation limited) yield of an adult crop under the author.
SE Asian conditions is more than double current average
yields and yields exceeding 10 t/ha of oil are common in  Replacement of primary and secondary forest by
field trials (Corley and Tinker, 2016; Hoffman et al., 2014). single species oil palm plantations have strongly
Thus, the oil palm is the world’s most efficient producer of reduced floral and faunal diversity which is practi-
vegetable oil. The juvenile period is long, however, with cally irreplaceable, even if oil palm growing were to
the first fruit bunches appearing after 3–4 years and the be abandoned and the land ‘returned to nature’.
crop attaining its ceiling yield after 8–10 years. Yields start  Although a well-developed oil palm plantation pro-
declining again at a crop age of 18–25 years. vides as good a protection to the soil as the forest it
An important feature of oil palm plantations is that the replaces and binds considerable amounts of CO2,
processing plants can be completely self-sufficient in large amounts of CO2 are also released at and after
energy by burning part of the residues (fibres and shells) forest clearing, from burning or decomposition of the
for power generation. Furthermore, the empty fruit bunches vegetation and the accumulated soil organic matter.
(EFBs), now usually mixed with palm oil mill effluent
(POME) and boiler ash, are composted and returned to the Lack of biodiversity makes an oil palm plantation sen-
field as fertilizer, maintaining organic matter and recycling sitive to pests and diseases which would otherwise be kept
an important part of the plant nutrients. More efficient ways in check by naturally occurring predators or by the ‘dilu-
of using and disposing of the various residues and generat- tion’ effect of multi-species populations (e.g. Litsinger and
ing more electric energy to feed into the local grid are still Moody, 1976). Chemical pest control is therefore common
in development (Aghamohammadi et al., 2016; Corley and practice, adding to the crop’s ecological disturbance,
Tinker, 2016). A well-established and efficiently managed although Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices are
plantation can therefore be conducted as a semi-closed gaining ground (Wood, 2002).
system.5 In Indonesia and to a somewhat lesser extent in Malay-
Most commercial oil palm plantations in Africa and in sia, the drive to further increase the area under oil palm and
Asia were originally planted on virgin forest land. The the shortage of suitable land for new plantations have led to
forest was cleared of all vegetation, suitable hardwood trees the increased use of forest land on peat soil. Once drained
were sold as timber and the remaining debris was either and cleared, peat soils release large amounts of CO2 by
burned or left to decay in wind rows. As the forest floor natural oxidation, which has caused additional concern
would initially be practically weed-free, palm seedlings among ecologists and increasingly also among the general
(Figure 1) were planted directly in planting holes, without public.6
the need for tillage or planting a soil cover, unless the land Stakeholders in the palm oil industry have become
was sensitive to erosion. Later, forest regrowth and pioneer keenly aware of the worldwide ecological damage of cur-
plants would be regularly slashed, until shade from the rent practices and of the potential commercial impact of the
mature palm canopy reduced the need for such mainte- consumers’ rising concern. In 2004, they therefore set up
nance. With time, plantations were also established in less the ‘round table on sustainable palm oil’ (RSPO), an orga-
pristine, secondary forests, or old rubber or oil palm planta- nization of producers, processors and traders in the palm oil
tions would be cleared and replanted with oil palms. Legu- industry, which has adopted a number of norms and criteria
minous cover crops such as Pueraria phaseoloides were for responsible development of new plantings, including
then often planted between the palm rows, providing both the banning of primary forest, steep terrain and peat soils
N to the crop and protection against undesirable weeds and (RSPO, 2013, 2018). So far, compliance with these criteria
erosion. have been questionable.
The enormous expansion of oil palm plantings during There are other options, however, as shown in Figure 2,
the last half century, mostly on forest soil, have formed a which depicts different vegetation types originally derived
serious environmental threat for the following reasons: from humid forest, the oil palm’s natural habitat. All of
Mutsaers 193

Humid forest

Selective Intensive Shifting/recurrent

Clearing Clearing cultivation
logging logging

Rubber,oil palm Depleted Degraded Secondary Imperata

timber forest forest forest grassland

Clearing Clearing Clearing

Imperata
grassland
Grass/crop
land
Clearing Clearing
Clearing

Oil palm Oil palm Oil palm Oil palm Oil palm Oil palm
Oil palm

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Figure 2. Possible land use histories preceding oil palm plantations.

Source: Adapted from Whitmore, 1975.

these vegetation types have been used for oil palm plant-
ings, with types 1–4 dominating in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Over time, there have always been calls to target grasslands
and degraded land (types 3, 5 and 7) instead of forests for
new oil palm plantings. In fact, in some Latin American
countries, especially Colombia, grasslands have generally
been the predominant environment for the crop. The idea of
using Imperata fields for oil palm has come up repeatedly
since pre-World War II times, but without much success.
These calls have grown stronger in recent times, not in the
last place because of mounting criticism against current
practices.

Deforestation and the establishment

of speargrass Figure 3. Imperata field where no agricultural crop could grow
When a tree plantation (e.g. of rubber, timber, or oil palm) unaided (Source: Aimaimyi, 2011).
is poorly managed, or it has grown old and is not replanted
or converted to another crop, it is likely to be colonized by
fire sensitive but very persistent grass species, especially fires and allelopathic effects of speargrass on several plant
speargrass or cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica (Figure 3)), species. Eradication by mechanical means alone is practi-
making it practically impossible for the forest vegetation to cally impossible, as the fragments of the rhizomes will
reinstall itself. Such a vegetation is called, somewhat rapidly develop into new plants.
euphemistically, a ‘subclimax’, that is, a more or less stable For Indonesia and India, the area colonized by spear-
ecological condition short of a real climax and maintained grass, and therefore practically unsuitable for cultivation,
by soil degeneration or by regular fires. Speargrass, called was estimated in 1996 already at 8.5 and 8 million hec-
lalang or alang-alang in Malaysia and Indonesia, has tares, respectively (Garrity et al., 1996). Since then the
invaded tropical areas on all continents. Large alang-alang area has probably grown further in the absence of effec-
fields result when plantation crops such as rubber or oil tive campaigns (or effective and well-tested methods) to
palm are poorly managed, after deforestation for timber, reconquer the affected areas. In several African countries,
or after forest clearing by small farmers for food crop the trends are equally concerning with speargrass on the
growing, if the clearing is not done carefully enough to increase, threatening areas in the more humid regions
safeguard the forest’s restorative capacity (land use his- (Chikoye, 2003).
tories 3 and 7 in Figure 2). It is very hard to grow agricul- In view of the increasing and justified criticism of cur-
tural crops in speargrass-infested land, because of a rent growing practices of the oil palm, the industry will
combination of above and below ground competition, bush have to find alternative, ecologically more friendly
194 Outlook on Agriculture 48(3)

methods. By planting the crop in soils which have been problem (e.g. Friday et al., 1999; Murniati, 2002; Olorun-
degraded by previous abuse, the oil palm could be con- maiye, 2010).
verted from a destructive into an ecologically attractive The oil palm could be an excellent species to recover
crop (Gingold et al., 2012; Koh and Wilcove, 2007). The speargrass-infested areas, but for the fact that its initial
huge ‘speargrass deserts’ in Asia, Africa and South Amer- development is slow (although not slower than most other
ica would fit that bill very well (e.g. Fairhurst and perennials). During the juvenile phase, it would have to be
McLaughlin, 2009; van Heurn, 1948), but it will not be protected against speargrass regrowth, in particular against
an easy job to convert them into productive oil palm the spontaneous bushfires which speargrass rhizomes can
plantations. easily survive while oil palm cannot. In principle it should
be quite possible to steer the oil palm safely through the
dangerous juvenile stage, but it requires much attention and
Reclaimed speargrass deserts: A potential
care. The reclamation of large speargrass areas and the
habitat for the oil palm protection of the young crop will require considerable
The wish to recover Imperata-infested and other degraded investments, but the costs involved may eventually not be
lands for productive or ecological purposes is certainly not higher than those involved in clearing away heavy forest
of recent origin. Even before the World War II, alang- vegetation. It will, however, demand drastic changes in
alang was seen as a serious problem in Indonesia and the approach and appropriate means and materials on the part
urgency of tackling the problem has only increased since of the plantation managers. Several authors have stressed
then. There is a sizeable body of scientific literature on the the feasibility and desirability to exploit speargrass-
reclamation of speargrass-infested soils (see e.g. Murniati, infested land for oil palm and noted that some companies
2002), with the earliest publications from Indonesia, dating already had experience with speargrass control through a
back to long before World War II (e.g. Coster, 1932; Rudin, combination of mechanical, chemical and biological (legu-
1935). They described mainly labour-intensive manual and minous cover crops) methods (e.g. Fairhurst and McLaugh-
mechanical control measures, but it soon turned out that a lin, 2009). No large-scale application has been reported yet,
combination, or rather a succession, of creeping (legumi- however, either for oil palm or for other perennials.
nous) plant species were needed to keep the grass under
control and create favourable conditions for the establish-
ment of perennial crops such as rubber or oil palm (e.g. van Methods for planting oil palm in Imperata-
Heurn, 1948). The perennials, once well established and infested land
sufficiently vigorous, would prevent re-emergence of the
The first step is identifying Imperata-infested areas, which
speargrass, which is intolerant to shade.
are suitable for oil palm. The POTICO project, now called
A special case is the ‘van der Meulen method’, also
‘Forests and Landscapes in Indonesia’ project, has devel-
developed in pre-independence Indonesia (Ferwerda,
oped criteria for the selection of degraded land for that
1972; van der Meulen, 1977). Van der Meulen had worked
purpose (Gingold et al., 2012), which would also apply to
in plantation agriculture in Java and developed an appar-
alang-alang fields. They include:
ently effective method to keep speargrass in check, consist-
ing in a complex succession of creeping and bushy – Land suitability, based on land cover (land with a
‘auxiliary species’,7 thus creating a favourable environ- high ‘carbon stock’ such as forest would be
ment for economically interesting tree crops. In the 1950s rejected), soil type, (no peat soil), slope, erosion risk.
and 1960s, van der Meulen was involved in an NGO project – Yield potential, based on elevation, rainfall, soil
in Brazil where his method was tested on a real-life scale, type, drainage, soil pH; the use of computer simula-
but the results were never properly published. In the early tion of yield potential would be indicated here (e.g.
1970s, the Dutch press for a short while paid attention to his Hoffmann et al., 2014).
complaints about boycotting or at least lack of interest by – Areas of sufficient size for economic mill operation.
the Dutch development authorities. Perhaps his personality – Land ownership in view of suitability for large scale
and his unsubstantiated claims about the absorption of or smallholder operations or a combination of these.
moisture from the air by one of his soil cover species (Cen-
trosema pubescence) was responsible for that. In any case, Preparing alang-alang fields for oil palm requires effec-
his method has never been put to a further test and nothing tive measures to keep the alang-alang under control until
was heard about it since. the palms themselves can take over. During the pre- and
A simpler approach was tested in a study on the potential early post-World War II years, only mechanical and biolo-
of agroforestry to recover alang-alang infested lands in gical methods were available, with the van der Meulen
Kalimantan, Indonesia (Murniati, 2002; Mutsaers, 1999). method as perhaps the most promising, though barely
It was found that a sequence of ploughing, herbicides, and tested one.8 With the advent of powerful herbicides, the
planting of Pueraria phaseoloides as cover crop created a interest in purely mechanical and biological methods has
favourable environment for moderate shade-providing tree waned. The combinations of cutting or flattening the grass
species, such as the candle nut tree (Aleurites moluccana) with a tractor-mounted roller, repeated glyphosate or iza-
with maize as an intercrop. More work has been done since mapyr applications, and leguminous cover crops are now
in various places about controlling or solving the speargrass seen as the most effective method for oil palm estates
Mutsaers 195

(Fairhurst and McLaughlin, 2009). If heavy herbicide oil production would of course be increasing the produc-
application is considered undesirable, a sequence of cover tivity of existing plantations. Although there is much scope
crops, rather than a single species, will still be needed to for this, expansion of the planted area is probably inevita-
prevent alang-alang from taking over. ble. It is therefore urgent to devise ways to convert the oil
For adoption of oil palm planting in alang-alang fields palm into a crop which exploits and protects degraded land,
by smallholders, an additional complication is the absence rather than destroying more rich forest vegetation.
of immediate returns to the investments needed to get oil Although alang-alang grasslands are not the only type of
palms established9 (cf. Murniati, 2002). Farmers will want degraded vegetation, they are dominant in the ecologies
to intercrop the young palms with food crops for immediate suitable for commercial oil palm growing. The extensive
benefits, which may interfere with effective Imperata con- speargrass areas in Asia and to a lesser extent in Africa
trol. Concerted action by large plantations and smallholders represent a challenging opportunity for the installation of
would probably be needed, whereby the latter can benefit new oil palm plantations. Work remains to be done in
from the skills and (technical and financial) means of the gathering relevant data about the best combinations of
former. Assistance by NGOs and environmental agencies mechanical, biological and chemical methods adapted to
could help, along the lines suggested by Koh and Wilcove different areas, but there is already sufficient experimental
(2007). evidence to undertake this challenging project in countries
A thorough analysis of earlier results with (combina- with both large Imperata-infested areas and an important
tions of) mechanical, biological and chemical methods, oil palm sector (or the desire to develop one, like India).
followed by additional applied research will still be needed The oil palm could thereby exchange its highly negative
and good practical guidelines are to be developed. image for one of a crop which combines a valuable product
with an important ecological function: the restoration and
protection of seriously damaged land.
Conclusions The image of alang-alang fields converted into thriving
oil palm plantations is appealing. Where once the land was
Oil palm originated in West Africa where it continues to be
paralytic, producing a pathetic amount of biomass which
an important crop, well-integrated in local customs and
was destroyed by fire each year, releasing all the accumu-
cropping systems. During the previous century, it has
lated CO2 again, now a vigorous palm vegetation would
evolved worldwide into an enormously important, highly
bind considerable amounts of CO2, convert it into precious
productive industrial crop, especially in SE Asia. It is cul-
oil, with electric energy generated from the residues to run
tivated both by large plantation companies and by small-
the processing plant and supply electricity to rural commu-
holders in rural communities, which often depend to a large
nities, and add crop residues to the soil to cycle nutrients
extent on the crop for their livelihood. Palm oil is now
and enrich the organic matter. That image, if converted into
rapidly acquiring a negative reputation because of the
reality, could turn the oil palm away from its current per-
destruction of primary and secondary forest for the estab-
nicious path.
lishment of oil palm plantations and its increased expansion
The oil palm industry has the means and technical skills
rate in the last three decades. The (worldwide) contribution
to undertake this challenging project which can eventually
of new oil palm plantations to deforestation was estimated
culminate in sustainably produced oil for human consump-
at a maximum of 5% between 1990 and 2000 and 10%
tion. What is needed is the will to use the available means
between 2000 and 2010 (Corley and Tinker, 2016).
and knowledge to test and demonstrate at a sufficiently
The crop’s current negative image is even leading to
large scale the feasibility of a new, ecologically friendly
calls for a ban on palm oil (see e.g. Watson, 2011), which
production system for palm oil, followed by its application
would have undesirable consequences:
at plantation scale. Governments and national and interna-
– Substitutes for palm oil must be found for the enor- tional organizations, as well as the food and cosmetics
mous range of products in which palm oil is an industry, should help by prodding estate owners to under-
essential ingredient. take this exciting project, which will eventually benefit all
– Other oil crops, such as rapeseed, soya bean or sun- parties involved, not in the last place the numerous small-
flower, needed to fill the gap would have an even holders who produce close to half the world supply.
larger ecological foot print than the oil palm (Corley
and Tinker, 2016). Author’s note
– A large number of smallholder communities would The author is a retired Farming Systems agronomist and was
lose their means of subsistence with no obvious previous affiliated with Wageningen Agric University, The Neth-
replacement is sight. erlands, Agricultural College, Cameroun, International Institute
of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria, University of Ibadan and
During the last decade, there are signs that the industry Nedworc Foundation, The Netherlands.
is starting to heed the call by RSPO to avoid forest (and
peat land) for new plantations (Potter, 2015). The prospects Declaration of conflicting interests
for palm oil as a biofuel, however, may lead to a new surge The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
in oil palm plantations in forested areas, such as the Ama- respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
zon forests of Brazil. The preferred road to increased palm article.
196 Outlook on Agriculture 48(3)

Funding Friday KS, Drilling ME and Garrity D (1999) Imperata grassland

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, rehabilitation using Agroforestry and Assisted Natural Regenera-
authorship, and/or publication of this article. tion. International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, Southeast
Asian Regional Research Programme, Bogor, Indonesia.
ORCID iD Gapki (Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association) (2017) Palm oil
HJW Mutsaers https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3072-4187 industry in Indonesia. Available at: https://gapki.id/news/3618/
sustainable-palm-oil-gapki-moving-forward-sustainable-
Notes palm-oil
1. In a mature forest, soil organic matter content will also have Garrity DP, Soekardi M, van Noordwijk M, et al. (1996) The
attained an equilibrium, with as much old OM decomposing as Imperata grasslands of tropical Asia: area, distribution, and
new OM forming. typology. Agroforestry Systems 36: 3–29.
2. And NE Brazilian as well, carried across by the victims of the Gingold B, Rosenbarger A, Muliastra YIKD, et al. (2012) How to
trans-Atlantic slave trade (Watson, 2011). identify degraded land for sustainable palm oil in Indonesia.
3. Or, morbidly, even earlier, as a foodstuff on board of the Working Paper. World Resources Institute and Sekala,
slavers of the 18th century. Washington D.C. Available at: http://wri.org/publication/iden
4. In a recurrent cropping system cropping periods alternate with tifying-degraded-land-sustainable-palm-oil-indonesia.
short (natural) fallow periods. Hills LD (1978) Ecological agriculture for the tropics. Unpub-
5. A detailed input/output analysis of a plantation can show lished paper, attached to van der Meulen (1977).
where improvements could be made to more closely approach Hoffmann MP, Castaneda A Vera MT, et al. (2014) Simulating
the closed system ideal. potential growth and yield of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) with
6. Not to be confused with the extensive peat fires in Indonesia PALMSIM: model description, evaluation and application.
during the El Niño period of 2015. Agricultural Systems 131: 1–10.
7. For example, the sequence (thornless) Mimosa invisa, Centro- Kang BT, Versteeg M, Osiname O, et al. (1991) Agroforestry in
sema pubescence and Chromolaena odorata Africa’s humid tropics: Three success stories. Agroforestry
8. A fairly comprehensive account of tests carried out in Brazil was Today 3(2): 4–6.
written in 1978 by Lawrence D. Hills, a well-known British Koh LP and Wilcove DS (2007) Cashing in palm oil for conser-
horticulturist but never published to the author’s knowledge vation. Nature 448(30): 993–994.
(Hills, 1978). Litsinger JA and Moody K (1976) Integrated pest management of
9. In Benin Republic, the leguminous cover crop Mucuna multiple cropping systems. In: Papendick RI, Sanchez PA and
pruriens has been tested successfully in small farmers’ Imper- Triplet GB (eds) Multiple Cropping. Madison WI: ASA Spe-
ata-infested fields (Versteeg and Koudokpon, 1993), but the cial Publication No. 27, pp. 293–316.
long-term adoption rate has not been verified. Murniati (2002) From Imperata cylindrica grasslands to produc-
tive agroforestry. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wagen-
References ingen The Netherlands, pp. 172.
Aghamohammadi N, Reginald SS, Shamiri A, et al. (2016) An Mutsaers AS (1999) Plantation forestry on alang-alang grass-
investigation of sustainable power generation from oil palm lands using Peronema canescens Jack. MSc Thesis, Dept. of
biomass: a case study in sarawak. Sustainability 8: 416–434. Ecol. Silviculture, Agricultural University, Wageningen.
Aimaimyi (2011) Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ Mutsaers HJW (2007) Peasants, Farmers and Scientists. A
wiki/File:Chigaya_-02.jpg Chronicle of Tropical Agricultural Science in the Twentieth
Chikoye D (2003) Characteristics and management of Imperata Century. Dordrecht: Springer.
cylindrica (L) Raeuschel in smallholder farms in developing Nouy B, Baudouin L, Djégui N, et al. (1999) Le palmier à huile en
countries. In: Weed Management for Developing Countries. conditions hydriques limitantes. Plantations, Recherche,
Rome: FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/y5031e/ De´veloppement 6: 31–45.
y5031e08.htm Oil Seeds Division (2016) Status Paper on Oil Palm. New Delhi:
Corley RHV and Tinker PB (2016) The Oil Palm. Hoboken: John Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare,
Wiley & Sons. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Government Of
Coster CH (1932) Enige waarnemingen omtrent groei en bestrijd- India.
ing van alang-alang (Imperata cylindrica Beauv.). Tectona 25: Olorunmaiye PM (2010) Weed control potential of five legume
383–401. cover crops in maize/cassava intercrop in a southern guinea
Cramb R and Curry GN (2012) Oil palm and rural livelihoods in savanna ecosystem of Nigeria. Australian Journal of Crop
the Asia–Pacific region: an overview. Asia Pacific Viewpoint Science 4(5): 324–329.
53(3): 223–239. Palm Oil Analytics (2017) Essential palm oil statistics. Available
Fairhurst TH and McLaughlin D (2009) Sustainable Oil Palm at: www.palmoilanalytics.com/epos.
Development on Degraded Land in Kalimantan. Gland: World Potter L (2015) Managing oil palm landscapes: A seven-country
Wildlife Fund. survey of the modern palm oil industry in Southeast Asia, Latin
Ferwerda JD (1972) Notes on the ‘Ecological Soil Improvement America and West Africa. Occasional Paper 122. Bogor, Indo-
Method’ by Ir. G.F. van der Meulen (in Dutch). Seminar nesia: CIFOR.
Series, Department of Tropical Crops, Wageningen Agric. Rival A and Levang P (2014) Palms of Controversies. Oil Palm
University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. and Development Challenges. Bogor: CIFOR.
Mutsaers 197

RSPO (2013, 2018) RSPO Principles and Criteria for the Pro- decline in Mono Province (Benin). Agricultural Systems 42:
duction of Sustainable Palm Oil. Kuala Lumpur: Roundtable 265–276.
for Sustainable Palm Oil. Watson C (2011) Dendezeiro: African oil palm agroecologies in
Rudin W (1935) Over alang-alang bestrijding. De Bergcultures 9: Bahia, Brazil, and implications for development. Journal of
346–348. Latin American Geography 10: 9–33.
van der Meulen GF (1977) A real green revolution. ACBT, The Whitmore TC (1975) Tropical rainforests of the Far East. Clar-
Hague (available in the library of Wageningen University and endon Press, Oxford.
Research) Woittiez LS, van Wijk MT, Slingerland M, et al. (2017) Yield
van Heurn FC (1948) De Oliepalm. In: van Hall CJJ and van de gaps in oil palm: a quantitative review of contributing factors.
Koppel C (eds) De Landbouw in den Indischen Archipel. Den European Journal of Agronomy 83: 57–77.
Haag: W. van Hoeve. pp. 526–598. Wood BJ (2002) Pest control in Malaysia’s perennial crops: a half
Versteeg MN and Koudokpon V (1993) Participative farmer test- century perspective tracking the pathway to integrated pest man-
ing of four low external input technologies, to address fertility agement. Integrated Pest Management Reviews 7: 173–190.