ABSTRACT
Palm oil is a controversial product (Pye and Bhattacharya 2013). Proponents argue that oil palm cultivation has raised incomes and reduced poverty. It has also been promoted as a cheap and sustainable substitute for other edible oils and as a fossil fuel substitute in biofuels (see, for example, Yusuf and Arif 2005). The oil yield per hectare from oil palm cultivation is up to 10 times higher than for other oilseeds (Sime Darby 2012). Critics have argued that the ecological and social costs of palm oil have been high. Land grabs by privileged corporate interests have displaced rural communities, and the rising value of land has fuelled dispossession and social polarisation (White et al. 2012).
