Oil Palm and Regional Economic Development Vijesh Krishna University of Goettingen, Germany Paper presented at the World Plantation Conferences and Exhibition (WPLACE) 2017 Thematic Session: OIL PALM Grand Sahid Jaya Hotel in Jalan Jenderal Sudirman Kav. 86, Jakarta 10220, Indonesia 18 Oct. 2017
Rapid expansion of oil palm area (Vijay et al., 2016) 1
Oil palm expansion is often criticized as causing deforestation in Indonesia (Source: International Business Times, 2016) 2
Oil palm plantations provide inferior ecosystem services compared to the forest. Clough et al 2017 Nat Commun. 3
Despite deforestation, Indonesia became the number 1 producer of palm oil. 39%: Increase in oil palm area in the world over 2003-2014 ~80%: Global palm oil production comes from Indonesia and Malaysia 2 7 million ha: Increase in oil palm area in Indonesia over 2000-2013. 44%: Oil palm area managed by smallholders in Indonesia Source: FAOSTAT 4
GNI percapita PPP (Int. $) Poverty head count ratio (% population) Rapid expansion of oil palm is often justified on grounds of faster economic development. 11000 9000 7000 20 18 16 40% Increase in the share of global GDP from Indonesia (2000-2015) Source: IMF 5000 14 12 110 Country rank with respect to HDI in 2014 3000 10 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 GNI percapita PPP (Int. $) Poverty head count ratio (% population) GNI and Poverty in Indonesia (estimated from World Bank datasets) +0.8% Approximate annual change in HDI (2000-2014) 5
The socio-economic effects of oil palm expansion is hardly quantified. Does oil palm increase livelihood standards of rural households? Differential input (factor) requirements could be leading heterogeneous impacts in the rural society. Differential factor requirement Differential access to factors of production 6
Study area: Jambi Province, Sumatra Land use in Jambi (1990) Source: Landsat images from Melani et al. (Unpublished) 7.1
Study area: Jambi Province, Sumatra Land use in Jambi (2013) Source: Landsat images from Melani et al. (Unpublished) 7.2
Number of oil palm adopters Adoption of oil palm among smallholders in Jambi 300 250 200 150 Independent non-migrant smallholders Independent migrant smallholders Supported smalholders In 2012, oil palm adoption was: 22% among nonmigrants 100 50 0 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 29% among nonsupported migrants. 54% among supported migrants Source: Farm survey data 8
Land productivity (million IDR/ha) 80 Factor input requirement of different land uses Land productivity (million IDR/ha) Labor productivity (000 IDR/hour) IDR 14 60 IDR 54 40 20 NPV Oil palm NPV Rubber 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30-20 Plantation age Source: Farm survey data 9
Livelihood Effects of Oil Palm Adoption (Change in the consumption expenditure of farm households due to oil palm adoption) Modelling was conducted in two steps excluding labor availability variables (step 1) and including them. Step 1 Estimated PACE [million IDR/AE] Adoption Non-adoption Average treatment effect (%) Adopters 15.8 13.4 18% Non-adopters 14.3 12.2 18% Step 2 Adopters 16.2 14.8 9% Non-adopters 11.5 12.4-7% 10
10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 Robustness of the estimates? Market price of rubber and oil palm products fluctuate over time. 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Rubber (per kg) Oil palm fresh fruit bunches (per 10kg) 11
Spatial models Random effects Full model Robustness of the estimates (Changes in the consumption effects of oil palm) Excl. business Excl. farm size Year 2012 Year 2015 Direct effect Spillover effect -20-15 -10-5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Welfare effects (%) 95% CI 90% CI 12
Oil palm is beneficial for smallholders. A major reason for farmers adoption decision: oil palm is less labor-intensive. At least half of the total benefits from oil palm adoption: indirect gains from labor-saving. Living standard effects of oil palm adoption depend on individual factor (esp. land and labor) endowments. Results suggest that emerging environment-friendly policies should more explicitly consider social heterogeneity. Research on-going: Estimating the spill-over effects of land use changes (e.g. impact on labor households). 13
Effect of oil palm on rural development Oil palm has on average positive effects in smallholders of Jambi Province. The economic effects of oil palm could vary between farm and non-farm households. The magnitude could vary depending on the competing crop. Using Potensi Desa (PODES) data and Tree Crops Statistics from 2000-2014, we estimated the effect of oil palm expansion on village amenities. The estimation was done at the regency level. 14
Density points Villages where oil palm came up btw. 2000-2014 were less-developed in 2000. 4.00 3.00 Without oil palm With oil palm 2.00 Development 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 Public goods index (0-1) Source: Estimated from PODES 2000 15
Percentage of rural households with electricity connection in regencies 50 40 Without oil palm With oil palm 30 20 10 0 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 Source: Estimated from PODES datasets 16
Effect of oil palm expansion on development indicators After fixing other regency characteristics, the oil palm expansion is found having a positive effect on rural development. 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00-0.50 Pipe/bottle drinking water Non-solid fuel Electricity connection Private toilet Trash carried away Telephone connection 17
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Thank you! 21
0 Expansion (km2) 50000 100000 Growth in the plantation sector 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 Year Oil Palm Rubber Coffee Sugarcane Others Cocoa Tea Tobacco