Colin
Barlow and Ria Gondowarsito
ABSTRACT
Oil palm with it’s high
economic returns is a potent vehicle of socio economic improvement, and a most
significant tool of rural development. But the roles of govermnet and other
interveners, and the methods of intervention to secure such development, are
subjects of international debate, where useful guidance for the future may be
drawn from past Indonesian and other experiences.
This paper addresses
these issues, looking first at rationales for intervention, methods of
organizing it, and economic, social and other criteria on which it merits may
be assessed. The paper then examines improvement through a range of crops in
Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and Africa. It next focuses on the
two main methods of Indonesian Oil Palm intervention, which are through ‘nucleus
estates’ and ‘extension to individual smallholdings.’
The interventions
through these methods are addressed in turn, reviewing key advantages and
setbacks of each, and drawing on information from recent field studies. The outcomes
of applying the methods over many years are assessed against relevant criteria,
quoting anonymous case studies to illustrate the arguments.
While the analysis
shows nucleus estates and individual smallholding extension to be partly
complementary, it sees smallholding extension to be broadly superior on
economic, social and sustainability grounds for long-term socio-economic
improvement through oil palm. Ways in which both methods might be implemented
more successfully in the altered Indonesian political environment are detailed,
and lessons to incorporate from other Indonesian and foreign development
schemes are highlighted.
Keys : Indonesia,
socio-economics, development, interventions, Elaeis guineensis
By : Department of Political Science and Change, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
By : Department of Political Science and Change, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia