Gender and oil palm expansion in Indonesia

Lessons from CIFOR’s ongoing research

Presenter: Steven Lawry on behalf of Bimbika Sijapati BasnettCenter for International Forestry Research

Her oil palm story…Ibu Lila—not her real name—climbs up and down the hills between the rows of oil

palms, carrying 18 kilograms of fertilizer in a basket slung from her shoulder.  If she meets her quota, spreading 350 kilograms of fertilizer around 175 palms, she’ll

earn 35,000 Rupiah (USD 2.71) today. “Sometimes when I'm carrying that fertilizer I feel I just can’t do it anymore, I'm so

worn out,” she said. “I get a headache from the smell, it makes my eyes swell up, and I cry until night.”

 It’s back-breaking work, but Lila feels as though she has no way out. Her plantation job

is her only chance to make enough to keep her daughter in high school. But it is casual work, and poorly paid.

 Ibu Lila lives in a tiny enclave between palm oil plantations in Meliau, West Kalimantan,

Indonesia—land that since 1980 has been extensively developed for palm oil. Her family lost their land to the plantation and is now landless.

 Hers isn’t the only palm oil story. Tied and independent smallholders also grow the

crop.

Summary of presentation

Trajectories of oil palm expansion – current rates, modalities

CIFOR’s research

Engendering the oil palm debate – why does gender matter

Key findings – who benefits, who looses, how has that evolved

Recommendations

Trajectories of oil palm expansion in Indonesia

Indonesia has 12 million ha of oil palm (Sumatra 64%, Kalimantan 31%)

Kalimantan had highest rate of expansion during the period 2005 – 2013.

Of 1.7 million ha added in Kalimantan 2005-2013, 86% was in the form of large scale plantations, only 14% was smallholdings

Permits for plantations are still issued even if undeveloped concession land is extensive.

Plantation expansion means smallholders who want to grow oil palm or other crops are squeezed for land.

Some – like Ibu Lila – now have no alternatives to plantation work.

Engendering oil palm debate

Who gains and who loses from oil palm?

Best cases: successful tied smallholder schemes where collective action and negotiation by farmers brings prosperity Worst cases: land grabbing by plantations, erosion of customary institutions, and lack of decent work for people who lose their land

Analysis by gender and generation disaggregates differential impacts of oil palm expansion.

Gendered impacts: women may benefit as smallholders; women workers are vulnerable to poor work conditions on plantations.

Young people in plantation-saturated districts will not have the chance to farm.

Meliau sub-district, West Kalimantanoil palm concession map 1990

Key findings 1: smallholders

Smallholder couples who sustained diverse farming systems and added oil palm to their repertoire prospered.

Women and men were equally enthusiastic about adding oil palm, and treated smallholdings as jointly owned property.

Transmigrants and locals who were allocated just 2 ha of oil palm in tied smallholder schemes had low and stagnant incomes.

Some transmigrants sold up and left the area.

Locals in the enclaves who lost their land were obliged to become plantation workers.

Mixed farm zone Dayak

Mixed farm zone Malay

Enclave, Malay

Transmigrant Java/local

Total households

76 180 96 377

Oil palm, 2+ plots

0 27 15 37

Oil palm, one plot

27 83 15 340

Own rubber 58 97 16 ?

Swidden rice 56 0 0 0

Landless 0 27 47 0

Land land use in sample hamlets, 2011

Key findings 2: Gendered work and casualization on plantations

Plantation workers were previously recruited as couples, and given stable work with good benefits

Plantations today rely heavily on casual and outsourced labour

Plantations prefer to hire young, male migrants as harvest workers

Plantations hire local landless women for maintenance work

Result: Families are fractured. Men and women are recruited from different labour pools. Landless women experience the worst labour conditions. Local men have to migrate out to find work elsewhere

Deteriorating Labour Conditions 1980-2012State plantation 1980-2003 State plantation

2003-12

Private plantation 1990-2010

Private plantation 2011-12

Male migrant harvest workers

Permanent core workers

Provincial minimum + bonuses

Aging core + contract harvesters.

Provincial minimum + bonus = Rp2,500,000 (2010)

Core paid daily wage of Rp35,000 based on quota + premium

Range Rp2-2,500,000/ month

No base. Paid Rp55/kg@ 1000/kg/day x 24 days = Rp1,320,000 (range Rp660,000-Rp2,640,000)

Female local maintenance workers

Permanent core workers

Provincial minimum + bonuses

Aging core + casual day workers

Core earn provincial minimum + bonuses =Rp2,500,000.

Casual workers earn Rp20,000 for 5-hour work day x 24 days/month = Rp480,000

Casual only.

7 hour day = Rp35,000 x 24 days/month = Rp840,000+ overtime = approx Rp1,200,000

Fertilizing and spraying, daily quota, no overtime Rp35,000 x 24 days/month = Rp840,000.

Clearing Rp7000 x 24 days =Rp168,000.

Loose fruit 30 buckets x Rp2200/day x 24 days = Rp1,584,000

RecommendationsReview policy options for oil palm expansion

Strengthen recognition and restitution of customary land rights

Upgrade and extend smallholder support programs

Improve conditions for plantation workers

Role – Government, CSOs, scientific organizations