Year of publication
2007
Excerpt
On request of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) partners, including ISRIC – World Soil Information, Alterra and Plant Research In ternational, conducted a biophysically-oriented study on land suitability for oil palm in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
The following outputs were delivered:
•Maps at scale 1 : 250 000 indicating suit able areas for the cultivation of oil palm and limiting factors
•Recommendations and discussion on sustainable expansion or intensification of oil palm in relation to biophysical aspects of land and soil and related to spatial planning
•Analysis of constraints for oil palm, including factors such as soil anchorage, soil nutrient status, and water management
•Considerations for management in relation to spatial planning of oil palm plantations and relations with smallholder agriculture and land or forest management (e.g. buffer
zone management).
The project contributes to the LNV objectives as it:
•Provided a sound, biophysically oriented basis for the allocation of new oil palm plantations or intensification of existing palm oil plantations, focusing on Kalimantan but other areas could be taken into account in the future
•Helped in discussions on expansion or intensification of oil palm cultivation that attracts international attention and raises wide public concern with respect to its environmental, social and economical impacts
•Provided factual, biophysically oriented inputs for decisions on expansion or intensification in the production of oil palm. Discussions often focus on biodiversity and social aspects, ignoring soil and land conditions that determine the feasibility for oil palm expansion or intensification
•Outside the scope of the study, but critically important for planning sustainable oil palm plantations, a spatial zonation for potential areas for oil palm expansion was made including legal land status, fragile land units, land tenure and biodiversity conservation protection areas.
Conclusions
•About half the area of Kalimantan is considered highly to moderately biophysically suitable for the cultivation of oil palm (~51% or 272 779 km2). In about a third of Kalimantan (~37% or 198 405 km2), the growth of oil palm is not possible/productive
•The dominant constraints are slope steepness and poor soil drainage. The latter can partly be overcome by management interventions
•Spatial planning including other factors than biophysical land suitability, such as legal status of land, actual land use, biodiversity conservation should also be considered
•Only limited areas are considered both physically suitable and without land use (land status) restrictions
•The land in Kalimantan adjacent to the border with Sarawak and Sabah is dominantly unsuited for oil palm cultivation.
Outlook/further research
•Methodology development/testing for regional planning of sustainable oil palm production (criteria and decision support system development)
•Assess sustainability issues (people, planet, profit)
•Consider management implications of land suitability/biophysical constraints at the plantation level vis-à-vis current exploratory scale of 1:250 000.
The following outputs were delivered:
•Maps at scale 1 : 250 000 indicating suit able areas for the cultivation of oil palm and limiting factors
•Recommendations and discussion on sustainable expansion or intensification of oil palm in relation to biophysical aspects of land and soil and related to spatial planning
•Analysis of constraints for oil palm, including factors such as soil anchorage, soil nutrient status, and water management
•Considerations for management in relation to spatial planning of oil palm plantations and relations with smallholder agriculture and land or forest management (e.g. buffer
zone management).
The project contributes to the LNV objectives as it:
•Provided a sound, biophysically oriented basis for the allocation of new oil palm plantations or intensification of existing palm oil plantations, focusing on Kalimantan but other areas could be taken into account in the future
•Helped in discussions on expansion or intensification of oil palm cultivation that attracts international attention and raises wide public concern with respect to its environmental, social and economical impacts
•Provided factual, biophysically oriented inputs for decisions on expansion or intensification in the production of oil palm. Discussions often focus on biodiversity and social aspects, ignoring soil and land conditions that determine the feasibility for oil palm expansion or intensification
•Outside the scope of the study, but critically important for planning sustainable oil palm plantations, a spatial zonation for potential areas for oil palm expansion was made including legal land status, fragile land units, land tenure and biodiversity conservation protection areas.
Conclusions
•About half the area of Kalimantan is considered highly to moderately biophysically suitable for the cultivation of oil palm (~51% or 272 779 km2). In about a third of Kalimantan (~37% or 198 405 km2), the growth of oil palm is not possible/productive
•The dominant constraints are slope steepness and poor soil drainage. The latter can partly be overcome by management interventions
•Spatial planning including other factors than biophysical land suitability, such as legal status of land, actual land use, biodiversity conservation should also be considered
•Only limited areas are considered both physically suitable and without land use (land status) restrictions
•The land in Kalimantan adjacent to the border with Sarawak and Sabah is dominantly unsuited for oil palm cultivation.
Outlook/further research
•Methodology development/testing for regional planning of sustainable oil palm production (criteria and decision support system development)
•Assess sustainability issues (people, planet, profit)
•Consider management implications of land suitability/biophysical constraints at the plantation level vis-à-vis current exploratory scale of 1:250 000.