By Bernadette Christina
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesian authorities will hand over more land that has been seized in probes into illegal palm plantations to new state company Agrinas Palma Nusantara, officials said on Wednesday, turning the company into a major industry player.
Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, began efforts this year to improve governance of its forest and palm oil cultivation after facing criticism the plantations were a major driver of deforestation.
Prosecutors handed over 216,997 hectares (536,211 acres) of plantation areas confiscated from 109 companies to Agrinas, Attorney General official Febrie Adriansyah said, adding to the more than 221,000 hectares handed over earlier this month.
Agrinas is expected to continue running the plantations.
“Agrinas Palma must be ready with their leadership to make sure the production will not drop, and should even be increased,” said Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, who is leading the task force set up by President Prabowo Subianto to identify illegal plantations in designated forest areas.
The plantations being given to Agrinas were part of an area of around 1 million hectares the task force has confiscated.
Authorities will go through a verification process for the rest of the area and aim to hand over more plantations to Agrinas, Sjafrie told reporters.
If Agrinas is given control of all 1 million hectares, it will become the biggest plantation company in the country.
The transfer of plantations to Agrinas could affect plant care which could in turn impact palm oil output this year, Eddy Martono, chairman of Indonesia’s largest palm oil association GAPKI, said.
“Since there is a change in ownership, the previous owner would no longer continue plant care including fertilizer application,” he added.
Zulkifli Hasan, the coordinating minister overseeing food supply, said earlier this week the initial 221,000-hectare area transferred to Agrinas would require upgrades or rejuvenation.
Areas found to be no longer feasible for commercial operation may be re-forested, a task force official said.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by John Mair, Sonali Paul, Saad Sayeed and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
