CIFOR–ICRAF publishes over 750 publications every year on agroforestry, forests and climate change, landscape restoration, rights, forest policy and much more – in multiple languages.

CIFOR–ICRAF addresses local challenges and opportunities while providing solutions to global problems for forests, landscapes, people and the planet.

We deliver actionable evidence and solutions to transform how land is used and how food is produced: conserving and restoring ecosystems, responding to the global climate, malnutrition, biodiversity and desertification crises. In short, improving people’s lives.

The carbon efficiency of oil palm plantations: an opportunity cost analysis

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The introduction and expansion of oil palm in Indonesia reflects the crop's economic attractiveness and benefits, but the social interactions between companies and local communities have had a mixed track record that requires attention. To some extent, oil palm plantations have been portrayed as costly from social and environmental perspectives. To understand the economic benefits of palm oil production, we analyzed both private and financial returns at the plantation level as well as the return to labour. Socially, interaction areas were identified as the result of labour requirements of oil palm plantations and the profitability of independent and plasma smallholders' plantations.

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