Agriculture Beyond Food is sponsored by: Migration flows and

Sliding from greasy land
Migration flows and forest transformation caused by oil palm expansion
in Riau, Sumatra and Berau, East Kalimantan - Ari Susanti
Sub-project
Collapsing forest ecosystems through palm oil plantations competing
claims for resources and land.
Figure 3. The share of forest areas released for oil palm plantations to oil palm areas in Riau
province up to 2010 (Dinas Kehutanan Propinsi Riau, 2010;
Dinas Perkebunan Provinsi
Riau, 2010; author's calculation)
Fieldwork information
The first fieldwork was done in November 2010 – February 2011 in Riau
province. This fieldwork was aimed at the primary and secondary data collection and the regional context of resources and land competition observation. The fieldwork was conducted in collaboration with Gadjah Mada
University and Riau University.
The main findings so far are: (a) oil palm has been important commodity at
Riau province and the increasing global demand for palm oil both for food
and fuel has triggered complex processes of land use change at the local
level involving not only previously forest lands but also increasingly food
crop lands; (b) Migrants play important roles in the development of oil
palm in the area. Previously, transmigration had to fill the gap of labor demand; nowadays the enormous influx of spontaneous migrants is leading
to competition for the jobs available or lands. The next challenge is to understand the dynamics of forest transformation process induced by oil
palm expansion and how this can be incorporated into regional land use
plan.
Figure 1. The administrative and soil type
maps of Riau province (Center for Soil and
Agroclimate Research, Agency for Agricultural Research and Development, 1990;
Pemerintah Provinsi Riau, 2011)
Figure 4. Early stage of ricefield conversion. Oil palm is intercropped with the last rice
crop before turning it into a mono culture of oil palm (Picture by Ari Susanti)
Figure 2. New oil palm plantation established
on previously peat swamp forest. It has been
replanted for several times due to peat fires
(Picture by Ari Susanti)
Figure 5. The population
growth, immigration and
emigration in Riau province
(Badan Pusat Statistik Propinsi Riau, 2011)
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