The palm oil industry is considered to have a strategic role in supporting national food security, both in terms of supply availability, price affordability, and environmental sustainability, said Head of the South East Asia Food and Agriculture Science & Technology Center at IPB University, Puspo Edi Giriwono.
He said Indonesia has the advantage as the world's largest palm oil producer, with crude palm oil (CPO) production reaching around 53 million tons per year.
"Our palm oil is capable of meeting Indonesia's needs 100 percent, even to the point of creating a surplus, and can meet global vegetable oil needs," he said in a statement in Jakarta on Saturday.
This production capacity, he continued, is not only capable of meeting all domestic vegetable oil needs, but also makes Indonesia a major supplier of global vegetable oil needs.
Puspo believes the strategic role of palm oil will become increasingly important in the future as the world's population increases. He estimates the global population will reach around 10 to 11 billion people by 2050, with global vegetable oil demand of around 250 million tons per year.
With increasingly limited land availability, he believes that increasing the productivity of oil palm plantations could be an effective solution to meet global vegetable oil needs sustainably without driving further deforestation.
"What commodity can be highly productive in a world where land is increasingly scarce? Palm oil productivity will meet and supply the needs of a global population of 10-11 billion," he said.
In addition to its superior productivity, he added, the development of palm oil-based downstream industries in the food sector needs to be continuously encouraged so that Indonesia is not only a supplier of raw materials but is also able to produce high-value-added products.
