There are, however, massive expansion of palm oil plantation has been claimed to be associated with deforestation, displacement of natural habitats, and unfairly blamed to cause haze-related air pollution in Southeast Asia cities. It has also been suggested as a major contributor to global warming through displaced carbon rich peat soils and wetlands purportedly used for oil palm cultivation.
As biggest world of palm oil producers, Indonesia and Malaysia have realized this issue. A land moratorium has been implemented, particularly on peatlands and rainforests. But in practice, the emphasis is too often placed on finding solutions to partial problems.
The efforts lack consideration of the long-term aspects of the system and do not represent sustainable development of the agro-food chain which demands transparency of data and information. It is therefore important to emphasis that all efforts should be more stakeholder orientated to adopting new technologies as an option and values.
When company make decisions on adopting new technologies, they must take into consideration two important factors, which are the challenge of sustainability and the challenge of traceability. They face a global society that demands transparency and a highly competitive global marketplace.
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But modifying management that has been rooted for years of crisis is not easy. The real fact is palm sector in both Indonesia and Malaysia is developing extensively, yet plantation and producers are performing well below their potential, with yields lower than optimum.
Chief Executive Officer of eKomoditi Solutions Indonesia, Ferron Haryanto, argues that it is not easy for palm oil producers to realize this demand considering the complex flow in the palm oil business which involves millions of people.
“In facts, palm oil production processes from upstream to downstream constitutes big data management that is impossible to solve without a digital process involving artificial intelligence, automation system and sophisticated predictive analytics. Meanwhile, traceability demands the availability of complete data, starting from planting, maintenance, harvesting, initial processing, further processing to derivative products,” Ferron said.
Facts Finding Infield of Palm Oil Plantation
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