Palm oil smallholders perception and awareness for good agricultural practices (GAP) in Riau

Abstract Indonesia is the main palm oil producer in the world. It provides almost half of the total palm oil production in the world. Smallholder farmers owned 40 percent of 8.5 million hectares in 2012. Unfortunately, Indonesia suffers from many critics for environmental compliance. Sustainable management practices for palm oil production for soil fertility, nutrients, biodiversity, energy, social and human capital, pest management, and any other issues are still challenging for smallholder farmers. Perception and awareness of smallholder palm oil farmers in Riau for sustainable management practices will be elaborated. Knowledge and experiences for practicing sustainable management palm oil industry will be collected through observations and in-depth interview with 20 farmers from 2 different areas as well as Village Unit Cooperatives or Koperasi Unit Desa. Data from previous researches, official reports, news, and websites belong to palm oil institutions will be utilized to complement the study. Evidence showed smallholder farmers lack information of soil fertility, biodiversity, and pest management. Land clearing by burning was considered faster, cheaper, and more effective to reach non-acidic pH level so nutrients are available to the roots. Biodiversity was threatened by burning practices. High demand on palm oil drove them to convert traditional/local plants to palm oil even ignoring paludiculture since 62 percent of land in Riau are wetland. Organic fertilizers were utilized combining with mucuna bracteata (MB) to cover crops.