Palm oil production, option for idle lands

South Cotabato - The production of palm oil in some idle lands in South Cotabato is part of the plan to boost the agricultural production of the province, Local Investment, Economic and Promotions Officer Emmanuel Jumilla said during the weekly Kapihan sa Kapitolyo.

“There are at least 1500 hectares of land planted with palm oil as of this time,” Jumilla said based on the monitoring report presented by the Provincial Agriculture’s Office.

Recently, the Consul General of Indonesia visited South Cotabato and signified an intention to facilitate Indonesian palm oil companies to forge an investment here.

However, Jumilla was quick to defend that the initial talk was to give farmers an alternative crop for idle lands.

“This is not to convert existing rice and corn farms to palm oil but an option to turn vacant lands into productive farmlands,” Jumilla emphasized.

Given seven more years, if plans would be pushed through, Jumilla said a palm oil refinery plant is set to construct in South Cotabato to cater other palm oil by-products.

“We could not send our palm oil to Indonesian because we have a market in Mindanao alone. By-products of palm oil are much more expensive than the palm oil,” he said.

“The Indonesian government recommended the provincial team to produce eight hectares of idle lands for palm oil production,” Jumilla added. /