INFO SAWIT, TANJUNG REDEB – Head of Plantation Agency, District of Berau, Sumaryono said, from the data taken in every single year, the width of area and the production of pepper and palm oil keeps increasing. For the pepper, in 2016, the unproductive and productive areas reached 2.260,10 hectares. In the first semester in this year, the pepper areas increased to be 2.313 hectares. The unproductive areas reached 1.081 hectares, while the productive ones reached 1.106 hectares.

While the people’s palm oil areas in 2016 consisting of independent areas and plasma areas reached about 31.923,42 hectares within the unproductive areas about 334,38 hectares, and the productive ones reaching 13.586,04 hectares. The areas in the first semester of 2017 for the independent areas reached 15.987 hectares, andthe plasma areas in partnership with the private companies reached 16.117,11 hectares.

“Two kinds of commodity, palm oil and pepper now become the ‘primadona’ of the people in Berau. Besies the other kinds of commodity should be developed too,” he said, as quoted from Prokal.co.

He also mentioned, his side keeps developing the smallholders with many programs, including how to cultivate the commodity. Not only pepper and palm oil, the other kinds of commodity would be developed too.

“We still notice to develop kinds of commodity so that the production would not decrease, such as, cocoa, coffee to be the new mainstay commodity in Berau,” he said. (T3)