ABSTRACT
Oil palm is now the number one source of vegetable oil worldwide, forming an important part of the diet for over a billion people (Murphy 2007). It has an annual production of around 65 million tonnes and a crop area of more than 15 million hectares. Production is currently centred in Southeast Asia, with Malaysia and Indonesia alone making up over 85% of global production, with a total combined area of 11.5 million hectares (FAOSTAT 2017). Production has increased rapidly over the last few decades, largely as a result of an increase in the area cultivated. For example, Indonesia, currently the world’s largest single producer, increased production by 68% from 2005 to 2011 (Murphy 2014) (Fig. 1). Demand is predicted to more than triple by 2050 (to 240 million tonnes), potentially requiring an additional 12 million hectares of oil palm to be cultivated (Corley 2009).
