BackgroundThe University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the University of Indonesia’s Research Center for Climate Change (RCCC) invite you to a virtual symposium to discuss intensification strategies for the oil palm sector.
Recognizing that palm oil is critically important in terms of Indonesia’s economy and food security as well as being an essential component to the world’s nutritional needs, we submit that intensification and productivity enhancement offer an alternative to the extensification model of palm oil cultivation that has characterized the last several decades.
Nebraska’s Global Yield Gap Atlas (GYGA) oil palm project is currently leading an initiative to increase the yields of independent smallholder oil palm farmers in Indonesia, but the work will also benefit large commercial cultivation. For more than a year, UNL has worked on this project in partnership with professionals from the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI/PPKS), the Indonesian Soil Research Institute (ISRI), UI RCCC, and Wageningen University. UNL is assisted in the provinces of Jambi, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Riau, and South Sumatra by local, Indonesian non-governmental organizations: Setara Jambi, Bentang Kalimantan, World Resources Institute (WRI-Indonesia), Posyantek, Plan B, and IDH Indonesia.
The University of Nebraska is truly grateful for support for the project from the research units of most of the important commercial growers of oil palm in Indonesia. The Government of Norway has funded this focused oil palm initiative –one of UNL GYGA’s many other projects worldwide. During the first 18 months, the project focused on implementing activities at six sites located in the six provinces mentioned above. At each site, UNL, PPKS, ISRI, and the local NGO are working with 200 farmers, totaling 1200 farmers across the six sites.
At this virtual symposium we hope to interest friends and colleagues in the Indonesian university and higher education sectors to work with us as we move ahead not only to analyze and improve our approach but to provide interested researchers and advanced students opportunities to participate in our efforts.[gdlr_space height=”20px”]
The virtual symposium was hold on Tuesday, February 24, 2021 from 08.00 -12.00 AM. There were 46 participants who attended the event. Welcome and introduction by Nurul Winarni (RCCC UI) and Dr. Patricio Grassini (UNL). Opening remarks by Marianne Johansen (Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta), Prof. Jatna Supriatna (RCCC UI) and Thomas Farrell (UNL, represented by Dr. Patricio Grassini). The symposium is divided into two sessions. In the first session, the presentation was made by the UNL GYGA-Indonesian Team. First presentation by Dr. Patricio Grassini from UNL. Second presentation by Dr. Suroso Rahutomo from PPKS. Third presentation by Hendra Sugianto, MPP. from UNL. Fourth presentation by Prof. Dr. Fahmuddin Agus, M.Sc. from IAARD. Then the first session was closed with the questions and answers session. After a short break, the second session was continued by Indonesian university researchers. First presentation by Prof. Dr. Ir. Sudradjat, M.S. from IPB University. Second presentation by Dr. Ir. Diana Chalil, M.Si. from USU. Third presentation by Dr.rer.pol. Sonny Mumbunan, M.Sc. from RCCC UI. The second session was closed with questions and answers session. After that, a discussion session was held before the event was actually close
The report can be downloaded in here
