Palm Oil Industry Fumes as Indonesia Gets Tough on Forest Fires

22 Apr 16

Palm oil firms have slammed Indonesia’s move to prohibit the use of new land to boost production, saying President Joko Widodo’s latest effort to tackle forest fires could slash jobs and cripple output in the world’s top producer of the commodity. Palm oil is a major growth driver for Indonesia, but the industry is facing criticism for deforestation and its slash-and-burn forest-clearing techniques that send vast plumes of smoke across Southeast Asia every year, described by climate officials as a “crime against humanity”. Widodo has pledged to tackle these fires and last week said palm oil firms must raise yields of existing plantations instead of clearing forests to increase acreage and output. The land already given to growers could be more than twice as productive “provided they use the right seeds”, he said.
http://thewire.in/2016/04/22/palm-oil-industry-fumes-as-indonesia-gets-tough-on-forest-fires-30787/

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