• Will India achieve self-sufficiency in palm oil production?
  • Its efforts will not only help India achieve self-sufficiency in palm oil production but, with oil palm cultivation more remunerative and less resource-intensive in comparison to crops like rice, it also promises to give farm incomes a much-needed boost.
  • How can CIRAD tackle the challenge of sustainable oil palm growing?
  • To enable it to press on and address the challenge of sustainable oil palm growing, CIRAD released a roadmap in 2023, centring on four main ambitions. CIRAD¡¯s research includes both building innovative agroecological systems and adapting existing systems.
  • How can we build more sustainable oil palm plantations?
  • To build more sustainable oil palm plantations, CIRAD suggests moving away from the agroindustrial model, set up on forest land, and instead helping farmers to plant oil palm on agricultural land and encouraging agroindustrial multinationals to build mini-oil mills scattered across those agricultural areas.
  • Can sustainable oil palm cultivation be a win-win for farmers?
  • But there’s no reason why it can’t be a win-win for farmers, food security and environment. Sustainable oil palm cultivation is an achievable objective. Globally, it has been linked to ecological degradation, forest loss and biodiversity destruction as forest lands were converted into oil palm plantations.
  • How has the oil palm boom impacted the environment?
  • Rising global demand for vegetable oil during the last few decades has led to a drastic increase in the land area under oil palm. Especially in Southeast Asia, the oil palm boom has contributed to economic growth, but it has also spurred criticism about negative environmental and social effects.
  • Does oil palm cultivation help smallholder farmers?
  • Oil palm cultivation has improved living standards and alleviated the poverty of many smallholder farmers. However, challenges such as climate change, aging palms and negative sentiments in the major markets, threaten the wellbeing of and raise the question on smallholder farmers¡¯ resilience, which remains poorly understood.