Indonesian farmers seeking high yield palm oil seeds are being duped into buying low yield seeds, which might hurt the country's output, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said on Tuesday. Around 400,000 hectares of mostly small-holder plantations were using lower yield seeds that cut productivity by up to 15 percent, Apriyantono said. That accounted for about eight percent of Indonesia's total palm oil plantations.
"This will damage our national palm oil production," Apriyantono told reporters on the sidelines of a palm oil industry conference.
Growing seed demand, around 140 million seeds annually in Indonesia, could trigger rampant scams during massive replanting programmes across the country in order to boost production.
The world's second-largest palm oil producer is set to rejuvenate old trees by replanting programmes on 700,000 hectares.
Apriyantono said the government would take legal action to prevent such scams.
Industry officials said it would take four years to see the impact of lower yield seeds when trees reach their productive phase.
Indonesia's palm oil output is estimated at 13.6 million tonnes this year, while exports are likely to climb nearly 10 percent to 9.5 million tonnes.
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