Indonesia's Global Scenario of Oil Palm Planting Materials and Future Strategies to Meet Demand

Development of oil palm industry in Indonesia is phenomenal in the last three decades. By 2006, 6.1 million ha of oil palm has been planted and in 2007 produced more than 18 million t CPO a year. Within next 3 years, 1.4 million ha land is allocated for new expansion. Considering this, planting excellent material is one of the most important resources that Indonesia should prepare to support the development of oil palm industry. High quality planting material has critical role on supporting sustainable oil palm production in Indonesia. Systematic breeding approaches integrated with good seed production system, set up by public and private seeds industry in the country have provided planters with enough option of best planting materials. By 2004, the oil palm seeds demand was served by only three seed producers. Nowadays, seven seed producers are ready to serve high yielding planting materials while few others will join soon. To meet customer demand, oil palm breeding and seed production are focused on improving yield performance and additional auxiliary traits. Oil quality, phenotypic performance, biotic and abiotic tolerance are among characters that become breeders’ concern. With the advancement and continuous improvement of technology such as tissue culture and DNA-based marker technology, breeders and seed industries are expecting to accelerate development of the best planting materials for future plantation industry. Despite all the challenges, the development of oil palm seed industry in Indonesia will still shine in years to come.