EUDR and Is It Time for the Palm Oil Industry to Consider Biochar ?

Malaysian smallholders cultivate around 27% of the total oil palm plantations or equivalent to 1.54 million hectares, while in Indonesia it reaches 41% or equivalent to 6.72 million hectares. Malaysia chose to increase the yield or productivity of FFB as an effort to increase CPO production, namely by being fostered by large companies with a target increase of 600,000 tons/year without increasing the land area. For Malaysia, opening new plantations is something that is very difficult, even impossible, especially with the implementation of the EUDR on December 30, 2024. Consolidation between palm oil farmers is expected to increase efficiency so that it ultimately increases yield and income. The area of ​​Malaysian palm oil plantations is around 5.7 million hectares or around 1/3 of the area of ​​Indonesian palm oil plantations (currently reaching around 17 million hectares). This is also the main reason why Malaysia chose to intensify its palm oil plantations while Indonesia tends to expand palm oil land, even though both countries face two main issues, namely increasing production and climate resilience.

Biochar application is a solution to overcome the two important issues above. Related to the increasing pressure of environmental issues, climate and sustainability, even renewable energy, it seems that biochar will receive more attention. There are many aspects of land and the environment that can be improved with biochar application which ultimately is a solution to the two main issues. For small plantations, biochar application can be easier to do, but for large plantations managed by various palm oil companies, biochar application requires more complex considerations, especially because of the risk factor of the vast area of ​​palm oil plantations, but this biochar option is still attractive. The use of IoT (Internet of Things) can be used to monitor biochar performance on the land, for more details, read here.

The operational efforts of the palm oil industry to be more environmentally friendly and efficient are a driving force and a challenge in themselves. With the large profits from the palm oil industry business, of course the palm oil industry will not simply ignore demands related to the environment and sustainability, especially the EUDR. Palm oil producers, especially Indonesia and Malaysia, are faced with a standard guideline that applies to countries producing 'edible oil', namely that palm oil to be exported must come from land that has been reforested before 2020. Otherwise, the producing country will be considered a country that does not pay attention to the issue of deforestation and hinders the export of palm oil abroad. Various lobbying and negotiation efforts by Indonesia and Malaysia as the two largest palm oil producing countries in the world to the European Union to be more relaxed in implementing the EUDR include great suspicion as to why rapeseed oil is not treated the same as palm oil. The production of rapeseed oil as a raw material for biofuel in Europe is protected and ignores its environmental impact.

Indonesia as a coconut island seduction country has an experience of coconut oil commodities in the past that can also be a reference for this. The era of the glory of copra or coconut oil was around the transitional decade of the 19th century to the 20th century or more precisely between the 1870s and 1950s and its peak in the 1920s. Why are copra and coconut oil in particular currently slumping and losing out to other vegetable oils? The long history of trade competition is the answer. Several parties, especially the American Soybean Association (ASA) accused coconut oil of being an evil oil containing cholesterol and saturated fat that clogs coronary arteries. The accusation was never proven true, in fact it was proven otherwise, but it became one of the main causes of the destruction of the global copra and coconut trade. The tropical oil campaign and war took about 30 years or in the 1950s to the late 1980s in the United States and so finally the Indonesian coconut industry slumped.

Climate factors in the form of efforts to reject deforestation with its EUDR and economic factors in the form of palm oil production will be a fierce feud but sooner or later it will definitely reach a meeting point that can be accepted by both parties because they need each other. Diverting CPO products to markets that do not require environmental requirements such as the EUDR also seems to be untimely. Furthermore, in the form of addressing two important issues in the palm oil industry, namely increasing production and climate resilience and in line with the EUDR, biochar is the right solution. The question is, will this biochar be an important consideration and even find its momentum to be applied in oil palm plantations, especially for Indonesia and Malaysia? And the implementation of the EUDR as its driving force. Let’s see.   

The Urgency of IOT and Biochar Applications in Palm Oil Plantations

The sustainability trend in palm oil plantations is increasingly important and urgent, which is of course part of the global solution to environmental and climate problems. The vastness of palm oil plantations and the large production of palm oil are in the spotlight in the industry. Waste management and environmental pollution are important concerns. The large volume of biomass waste has the potential to be a source of environmental pollution and so is the excessive use of chemical fertilizers in palm oil plantations which will also cause environmental pollution. Inappropriate land use, for example deforestation and land conversion, are also other concerns.

Two important issues in the palm oil industry are increasing FFB productivity (yield improvement) and climate change resilience. And thank God, both of these things can be handled at once, namely by applying biochar. Palm oil mill biomass waste (especially palm oil empty fruit bunch) will be converted into biochar and then applied to plantation soil (sustainable soil amendment) with fertilizer so that it becomes a slow release fertilizer that will increase NUE (nutrient use efficiency) and minimize environmental pollution. With the increase in NUE, there will be yield improvement or an increase in FFB productivity. And the application of biochar which will remain in the soil or not decompose for thousands of years will become carbon sequestration / carbon sink which is in line with climate change resilience. A precise solution with one action, of course this should be very interesting and awaited by these palm oil companies.

To ensure that the biochar can work properly, an instrument is needed to measure performance and monitor it. That is why IoT (Internet of things) in this sector is needed. How slow can it goes fertilizer nutrients can be measured and monitored accurately, quickly and precisely. In this way, palm oil productivity can also be predicted. The area of ​​land on palm oil plantations that reaches thousands or tens of thousands of hectares is also not an obstacle. The area of ​​palm oil plantations in Indonesia is currently estimated to reach 17 million hectares and in Malaysia it reaches 5 million hectares, of course these palm oil companies are also trying to achieve their best level of sustainability according to the demands of the times. This is so that the application of biochar on palm oil plantations will become a trend and even its operational standards. The entry point by ensuring biochar performance with IoT is an important consideration.

This biochar application also follows the 4Rs rule, namely the right source (appropriate biochar raw material), right place (appropriate application area), right rate (appropriate dosage) and right timing. The physical and chemical properties of biochar differ depending on the raw material and production process. By following the 4R rule, biochar performance can be maximized. On the other hand, modernization in the palm oil industry also continues to be improved. The public perception of work in oil palm plantations, abbreviated as 3D (dangerous, difficult, dirty), will be gradually changed with mechanization, automation and digitalization. The ratio of workers to plantation land currently around 1: 8 ha will be increased to more than double to 1: 17.5 ha with the above modernization so that workers' wages can also be increased. This modernization is expected to help overcome the two important issues above with the biochar application.

Biochar and IoT in Palm Oil Plantations

Monitoring until action needs to be done to get optimal results according to the expected target. Ensuring that the supply of nutrients and water is always sufficient for the needs of plants is an important thing to do. Other variables that affect the process of nutrient absorption and plant growth need to be properly monitored. Biochar is a soil amendment to improve soil properties such as soil structure, soil aeration, water and nutrient availability, suppress the development of certain plant diseases, create good habitats for symbiotic microorganisms and reduce soil acidity. Biochar also  adsorbs greenhouse gases in the form of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby reducing these gases in the atmosphere. It is important that sensors are used to read the variables above. How many sensors are installed and what type is also very dependent on the objectives being achieved. The use of various sensors in large numbers is also a cost in itself, while a production is always looking for the most efficient way to maximize profit. The use of sensors that are effective and efficient is the key to successfully monitoring the conditions of biochar applications in the field with a specified period of time, even real time all the time.

IoT (Internet of Things) is predicted to become a trend in the near future and it cannot be avoided. A number of plantation areas that are located far away in remote villages, such as in palm oil plantations, are generally still constrained by the internet network, this condition makes IoT unable to be applied or still not optimal. Palm oil plantations are one of the ideal locations for biochar applications for large capacities as well as IoT, for more details read here. While waiting for an internet network in the area provided by a telecommunications company, satellite signals can be used even with small data usage so that the information displayed is also less and simpler. This makes only really important information that needs to be monitored, especially on plantation locations that are difficult to reach. At such a stage manual monitoring is still much needed, so the online information from the satellite only helps for verification. Devices such as drones can also be used to monitor growth or general the plantation conditions.

Basically, IoT and its supporting devices such as artificial intelligence and big data are tools to help make decisions, especially for the plantation manager such as palm oil plantations. Knowing the condition of the plantation so that it can maintain the level of plantation productivity performance is an important part of maintaining the company's performance itself. Even though IoT devices help in such a way, the important thing that is still needed is basic knowledge to the characteristics of plantation management itself. These sciences will be very useful for analyzing the data presented by IoT devices more sharply and accurately or on target. Selection of sensors, the number of sensors to the location of the sensor installation must be carried out effectively and this can only be done with an adequate scientific basis. A number of chemical analyzes in general also cannot be done sensory but using reagents and so on. In addition, IoT is also a new thing so that a number of certain activities or practices in certain agriculture or plantations and more specifically in the biochar application have not been identified for IoT developers. This is so that collaboration between researchers, practitioners and IoT developers is needed so that IoT device products will also be more effective and efficient. 

The Role of Biochar In Era of Precision Farming and IoT in Palm Oil Plantations

Palm oil is not native to Indonesia but it is from West Africa and originally brought by Dutch colonialists. Initially only 4 palm oil seedlings were planted in the Bogor Botanical Garden but now they have been planted into plantations with an area of ​​nearly 9 million hectares, while Malaysia 5 million hectares. Currently Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, beating Malaysia with CPO production of more than 23 million tonnes / year with the number of oil palm mills reaching more than 600. Right now approximately 1,100 palm mills in Southeast Asia, and majority in Indonesia and Malaysia. Palm oil and its derivative products have become the largest foreign exchange earners of the plantation sector for Indonesia. The palm oil and its derivative products are divided into several groups namely CPO (crude plam oil), refined products of CPO, palm kernel oil (PKO), refined products of PKO, biodiesel and oleo-chemical. Naturally, palm oil business is a concern for many parties because of its role in the economic sector, which includes agriculture, industry and trade. The optimization of palm oil business continues to be done continuously for the sustainibility.

Palm Oil Monument in Bogor Botanical Garden, West Java, Indonesia

Optimalization in the agricultural sector, now it is time for  Indonesia for doing intensification so that palm oil productivity can be improved. When efficiency is increased, productivity will increase as well as the profits of the palm oil business. Precision farming and internet use (IoT = Internet of Things) are timed for use in the palm plantations. With precision farming and IoT, the need or dose of palm oil fertilizers or nutrients will be adjusted as needed, and real time soil fertility conditions and various agricultural variables can also be viewed and monitored carefully with apps or websites. The advantages and disadvantages of fertilizers or nutrients of both macro elements such as NPK and micro elements such as Fe, Mn, B, Mo, Cl, Cu, Zn in certain zones of oil palm plantations can be immediately detected, as well as various disturbances in oil palm plantations such as drought, wild pigs, pests and so on. The sensors installed in the palm oil plantation will then work with telemetry so all the data can be displayed on the screen to be analyzed and searched for the solution.

Isn't the palm oil area tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands hectares area? How to monitor and process the data? The more sensors installed in the palm oil plantations , the conditions will be more accurate reported. If we visit a modern chemical plant with sophisticated control room, see dashboard in cockpit plane or car dashboard and so then operational condition can be monitored easily. The more sophisticated the vehicle or factory then the look in the 'control room' is also more complete and sophisticated. So that's how to monitor the 'operating conditions' of the palm oil plantation with tens or even hundreds of thousands of hectares. Without knowing the condition of the plantation is like a driver driving in the 'dark', gasoline run out do not know, the engine overheating is also not known and so forth. Of course that is a high risk, many palm oil plantation failed or a lack of production due to various things 'dark' is. Thousands of data with many varieties of plantation condition then be collected and with big data can be mapped and analyzed for mapping also for the solution.

Soil fertility is vital to the farm / plantation business more specifically in palm oil plantations, so the effort to continue to maintain soil fertility should receive great attention. Of course there are many ways to continue to keep the soil fertility, including fertilization, the use of charcoal (biochar) and sheep grazing. Charcoal (biochar) is proven to increase soil fertility by keeping soil moisture, a microbial soil, retaining leaching, increasing soil pH, adding soil organic carbon and improving soil structure. Even with regard to climate change and the environment, the soil (biochar) that is introduced to the soil also absorbs carbon from CO2 from the atmosphere (carbon sequestration). Biochar can also survive hundreds or even thousands of years in the soil so that the benefits are very long.

There are several scenarios to produce biochar on palm oil business. Solid waste from palm oil mills such as empty bunches (EFB), fiber and shell can be used for the production of biochar. Simple to most advanced technologies can be utilized for the production of the biochar. On a large scale or industrial biochar production using continuous pyrolysis (carbonization) technology such as JFBC. The continuous pyrolysis or carbonization may be part of the palm oil mill or CPO production as can be read here or stand alone eg using only EFB as the raw material of the pyrolysis. The high cost of fertilization or efforts to maintain soil fertility so that biochar applications have a high level of urgency as described here.

Other efforts to maintain the soil fertility of palm oil plantations with sheep grazing. Why sheep grazing can fertilize the land of palm oil plantations? Yes, because when sheep are grazed among palm oil plantations also dump the dirt in the place, so the grass between the palm oil plantation should is not eradicated but maintained for the farm business. The sheep dung become fertilizer that fertilizes the soil. Why for sheep grazing? Why not grazing cattle or buffalo? This is because sheep farms produce more meat than cows or buffalo. The lamb/sheep is the best meat and is the world healthiest food, which is grass-fed sheep or shepherded on the grass. Grass-fed sheep will produce Omega-6 to Omega 3 ratio (O6 / O3 ratio) ranging from 1 or balanced. The Omega-6 ratio to Omega 3 states that the quality of food is in terms of health, with a range of 1 at its best or a balanced condition whereas if the O6 / O3 ratio is greater then the lower the quality of the food. Meanwhile, if big livestock such as sheep are fed grains such as soybean-based O6 / O3 ratio will be big ie 13 or more. High O6 / O3 ratio will spur the onset of heart disease, cancer and other cardiovascular diseases.The second driving force is the low consumption of meat for Indonesian which according to FAO is only 12.9 kg / year / capita or below the world average reaching 41.9kg / year / capita. The population of Indonesia with the consumption of sheep meat is very minimal or only 1/20 than the population of Australia and New Zealand but it turns the ratio of heart attacks and strokes is much higher or about 3 times the population of Australia and New Zealand. This proves that there is no relation to the consumption of sheep meat with heart disease or stroke - which is the animal of choice in the Qur'an and the shepherding of these Prophets! Sheep needs for export market especially Middle East and Saudi Arabia especially during haj season is also very high, around 8 million/year. Sheep dung will also be distributed more evenly in the palm oil plantation. Sheep breeding in the palm oil plantation will also increase profits for the palm oil plantation business itself. Even because of the vastness of palm oil plantations reaching 9 million hectares, the potential benefits are also tremendous.

As a Muslim, sheep animals also have significance. Why? In the Qur'an Surah Al An'am (6): 143-144 among eight animals in pairs (4 pairs) are two (one pair) sheep, a pair of goats, a pair of camels and a pair of cattle and sheep mentioned in the first order, of course this sheep has its own privileges, among others, sheep selected as the best animal qurban (QS Ash Shaaffaat (37): 107) and animals that are pastored by all prophets. By shepherding it among the palm oil trees, sheep farms are cheap because they feed on the grasses among the trees.

With the precision farming technology and IoT as tools applied to the palm oil plantations whose essence is to continuously monitor and maintain soil fertility and plantation maintenance by analyzing a number of variables related to the goal of optimizing palm oil production, the palm oil plantation will continues to be sustainable. Making all business activities of the palm is integrated and comprehensive with attention to environmental factors, good business management and take responsibility and with the utilization of latest technology in addition to a great opportunity to be a leader in this line of business is also the prosperity of the earth, such as the command of Allah SWT in the Qur ' An Surah Huud (11): 61.