REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUTAI - The Head of the Plantation Office of East Kutai district, Akhmadi Baharuddin, is optimistic that by 2015, the administration will be able to meet the target of having 500 thousand hectares of land under palm plantations.

"Of the one million hectares target set by the provincial administration of East Kalimantan, the 2011-2015 Strategic and Mid-Term Development Plans of East Timur mention that the palm plantation will achieve a target of 500 thousand hectares," Baharuddin said on Saturday.

Until 2014, palm plantations covered 280 thousand hectares in East Kutai, the largest in East Kalimantan. The seven to nine years old plants yield a harvest worth 30 billion IDR, or about 2.4 million USD, per year. Moreover, there are as many as 90 thousand workers employed in the palm plantations in East Kutai.

"If one hectare of plantation is managed by three workers, more than 100 thousand people work in this sector," Baharuddin noted.

The number excludes the labor employed in crude palm oil factories and other business sectors such as cooperatives and small-medium enterprises.

"If we can provide 500 thousand hectares of palm plantations, 150 to 200 thousand workers can be given jobs in this sector," Baharuddin affirmed.

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