Indonesia palm oil growers tighten plantation security

JAKARTA: Indonesian security companies have seen a surge in demand for guards to protect palm oil plantations from fruit thieves and land grabbers, amid a rebound in prices of the commodity used to churn out everything from cooking oil to soap.

Palm prices have jumped over 15% in the last few months, boosting the temptation for individuals or small-scale criminal gangs to steal fruit to sell to middlemen in the world’s biggest producer of the tropical oil.

Security companies said this was driving more business their way, with palm growers looking to step up the number of guards patrolling plantations that can sometimes cover up to 30,000ha, equivalent to nearly half the entire land area of nearby Singapore.

Some of those vast plantations are now being guarded by up to 200 people, Agoes Dermawan, secretary-general of the Indonesian Security Industry Association, told Reuters.

“Palm is one of the sectors that require a lot of security forces because the level of theft of fresh fruit bunches is quite high, and other crimes related to plantations have also been rising, Dermawan said.

Unclear regulations on land ownership in palm-growing regions such as Sumatra and Kalimantan have also led to overlapping claims for land, with indigenous people occasionally occupying the concession areas of palm oil companies. Around 15% of the 650 members of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association are expected to use private security services this year, up from 10% in 2016, said Eddy Martono, head of the body’s agrarian and spatial planning unit.

Thieves of fresh fruit bunches tend to use motorbikes or pickup trucks to speed loot to middlemen, Martono said.