"There are 13 palm kernel processing factories with installed capacities ranging from 30 tons to 60 tons per hour each," said Ricky Gunawan, head of farming business division of Bengkulu province?s plantation office, her, on Saturday.
Gunawan added that there had been an urgent need for additional new factories because on the average the province produces 2.2 tons of kernel each per year produced by the 114,650 hectares of oil palm plantation.
Previous feasibility studies conducted to see the real need for the new refining facilities had indicated for construction of 12 new factories. However, after a re-evaluation, it was then decided that the total need is for 16 new factories.
Gunawan said there are already some investors that have applied to construct the new palm kernel processing factories and they had conducted surveys. The new factories will be constructed at the regencies of Kaur, Central Bengkulu, Seluma, North Bengkulu and Mukomuko.
He said that the need for new factories had been based on the fact that each time harvest seasons comes to the peak, the 12 factories in the province could not accept all the kernels produced so that a large quantity of kernels had to be sent elsewhere for processing.
The limited processing capacities for palm kernels in Bengkulu had often brought down prices at farmer level to 1,000 rupiahs per kilo, whereas outside the province it could fetch at least 1,500 per kilo.
The low prices for the kernels they produced had made the farmers lost due to the high prices of fertilizers and cost of plantation handling.(*)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
