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Implementation of GIS to Palm Oil Plantation Management in Indonesia

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Publication date
05/06/2013
Language:
English
Type of Publication:
Working Papers & Briefs
Studies
Focus Region:
Asia and the Pacific
Focus Topic:
Agricultural Value Chains / Agri-Businesses
Type of Risk:
Managerial & operational
Type of Risk Managment Option:
Risk reduction/mitigation
Commodity:
Crops
Author
David Miller, Yolande Miller
Organization
PT Miller Bahroeny

Palm oil plantations are a major commodity producer with Indonesia currently being the world’s second-largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO) after Malaysia. Together these two countries account for 84% of total world production and 88% of global exports (Guerin 2006). The demand for palm oil is increasing significantly, both locally and for export resulting in further land clearing and conversion of existing plantations over extensive areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Typically, palm oil plantations include production areas requiring supporting infrastructure such as buildings, roads and services. To better control the associated resources and assets, GIS is considered to be an essential tool for effective management. The implementation of this technology is only slowly emerging in the Indonesian plantation industry. This paper considers the information requirements of plantation management, and GIS integration to include the following: mapping, infrastructure, production planning, and control analysis for several plantations at various stages of development. Due to the dynamic nature of plantation development, information needs change during the life cycle of the crop and this has been taken into account in this paper. Reference is made to the success of applying GIS technologies to several plantation projects in Sumatra, Indonesia.