Is the income of independent smallholder oil palm after replanting with a conventional system greater than the underplanting system in supporting the sustainability of oil palm plantations?

The sustainability of oil palm plantations is of particular concern from government. One of the problems that has not yet been realized is the target of replanting smallholder palm oil plantations. There are two replanting systems namely conventional and underplanting system. Some farmers do underplanting because it prevents farmers from losing their major source of revenue if they do not have oil palm plantations in more than 2ha. Smallholder oil palm producers in Sungai Bahar District with two system. The sampling approach employs simple random sampling with 44 sample conventional and 42 sample underplanting. According to the research findings, conventional system farmers’ income is higher than underplanting farmers with difference comparison 20.7%. Farming income using conventional is IDR 22,323,490/ha/year, while underplanting is IDR 12,519,214/ha/year. The difference is seen at higher production levels in the conventional system. Besides that, the application Good Agriculture Practice in conventional systems also affects the condition of the Fruit Fresh Bunches produced, including the use of appropriate fertilizer. Oil palm farming has reached the account the minimum wage (UMK) level, even above the applicable UMK level, taking into UMK for the district of Muaro Jambi in 2023 of IDR 2,900,000 per month in both two-system replanting.


Introduction
Indonesia has around 14 million hectares of oil palm plantations, which include state, corporate, and community operations [1,2], and around 42% are communal plantings.It is impossible to deny that oil palm plantations have a significant impact on the Indonesian economy, offering employment opportunities, a source of income for millions of farmers, and the growth of palm oil-based downstream companies in Indonesia [3].The development of oil palm plantations in Indonesia cannot be separated from the influence of smallholder plantations, which continue to increase from year to year until 2022 reaching 6,379,937 ha [4].The development of self-supporting smallholders' plantation land should support increased income for independent smallholders but this is not the case.The productivity of independent farmers' land is generally low compared to the productivity of private or state companies [5,6].The main issues with smallholder oil palm plantations include low productivity, plantation management that does not follow Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), and a large number of unproductive oil palm plants [7,8].Good Agriculture Practice are very important in obtaining production that meets standards, apart from being influenced by plant age factors.There are still many smallholder farmers who do not implement GAP correctly.The development of independent smallholder plantations has various problems, both production and quality, but smallholder plantations have an important and strategic role in achieving sustainable oil palm plantation development [9].
Farmers continue to keep oil palm plants with unproductive plant ages (beyond 25 years) since they still get production results and do not lose their major source of income.As a result, farmers may choose not to replant or to replanting using an underplanting strategy.The underplanting system, also known as the insert method, is a replanting technique that involves planting new seedlings between damaged plants [10].Farmers continue to utilize the underplanting system because they do not totally remove damage plants and hope to continue receiving production results as long as the young plants are not yet producing.On the same stretch, farmers aim to increase yield because there are old and new plants.Aside from that, many small farmers prefer underplanting choices when they only have oil palm plantations of less than 2 ha or only one site of oil palm plantations.
The Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) replanting program provides IDR 30,000,000/ha support to smallholder oil palm producers for replanting oil palm plantations.BPDPKS implements replanting using a traditional approach, meaning cutting down oil palm plants directly in one stretch and sowing fresh oil palm plant seeds.In other words, until the oil palm plants begin producing, farmers will lose income from 2 ha of replanted oil palm.The conventional approach is not a problem for oil palm growers who have oil palm plantations of greater than 2 hectares on various stretches.
Two oil palm replanting methods in which there are varied numbers of oil palm plants in one stretch of 2 ha oil palm plantation, meaning in one stretch there are new plants and in the other stretch there are new plants and old plants.Because smallholder oil palm farmers acquire produce from old plants (in stages) and young plants when they are 3 years old, this raises the question of whether the underplanting system may provide a higher revenue than the standard system.This study is expected to provide insight and information regarding the oil palm replanting system for smallholder farmers and oil palm farming revenue, as well as which replanting choices will bring the most future benefits.

Materials and methods
The study uses survey data on oil palm smallholdings in the Muaro Jambi District, Jambi Province.Data were collected from 86 smallholder palm oil consist of 44 smallholders palm oil used conventional system dan 42 underplanting system.Farmers with plants in the second cycle after replanting, namely 4 and 5 years, provided the samples.A quantitative technique was utilized to answer the research objectives, namely assessing the total revenue obtained from 2 ha of conventional system and 2 ha of underplanting system.A quantitative technique was utilized to answer the research objectives, namely assessing the total revenue obtained from 2 ha of conventional system replanting and 2 ha of underplanting system replanting.

Production oil palm plantation after replanting with conventional and underplanting system
Replanting is a method of increasing the production and productivity of plantation commodities such as oil palm.Oil palm regeneration can be accomplished by the use of conventional system and underplanting system.The conventional system is a replanting technique in which damage plants are uprooted and replaced with new plants in accordance with oil palm plantation management protocols.Meanwhile, the underplanting system is a replanting technique that involves gradually removing damage plants and planting new ones with the help of an insert method.
Figure 1 demonstrates that the maximum yield from the underplanting system was 22,385 tons in the 2018 planting year at the same price level of IDR 1,558/kg.Meanwhile, the conventional technique produced the most in the 2019 planting season: 18,771 tons.The current plant is 5 years old according to the 2018 planting year, and 4 years old according to the 2019 planting year.The conventional system yields 38,094 kg/ha/year, while the underplanting system yields 37,266 kg/ha/year.There is an 828 kg/ha/year difference due to impeded growth of new plants in the underplanting system, resulting in new plant production that is lower than production in the conventional system.In the underplanting system, the presence of new plants planted between old plants on one stretch of land leads in poor nutrient absorption and imperfect growth, resulting in a lower bunch weight than in the standard system (not yet reaching 5 kg/bundle).This has the ability to slow the mutation process from immature to adult plants [11].It is also believed that fresh fruit bunches produced in the conventional system are likewise thought to be superior than fresh fruit bunches produced in the underplanting system [12].

Production costs of independent smallholder oil palm after replanting with a conventional and underplanting systems
Production costs are directly proportional to the amount of output produced.Fertilizer, pesticides, labor, equipment depreciation, and other costs are all part of the production costs of oil palm farming.Even if the area is the same, namely 2 ha, the usage of production inputs for oil palm plantation after replanting in the underplanting system differs from the conventional system (Figure 2). Figure 2 illustrates that the underplanting system has higher production costs than conventional systems, with a difference of IDR 8,514,252/ha/year.
The usage of fertilizer in the underplanting system is the most expensive component of production costs, with a difference of IDR 5,729,790/ha/year when compared to the conventional system.This occurs because there are two plants in a 1 ha stretch with different average plant counts, with the young plants having 137 plants and the old plants having 70 plants.In the meantime, the conventional system has an average of 142 plants per hectare of land.This distinction has an impact on the utilization of production inputs.The use of fertilizer in the growth of a plant is very important because one of the strong influences on the production of oil palm plants is the continuity of fertilizer use with fertilizer standards that comply with regulations [13].Conventional system uses less fertilizer amount, however fertilizer is used periodically, up to three times year.Independent farmers often ignore fertilizer, the main obstacle is the high price of fertilizer and the difficulty of getting subsidized fertilizer.The fact in the field is that farmers only fertilize one a year, which should be at least three times a year.For the smallholders who have received ISPO or RSPO certification, their oil palm plantations will be managed by following existing regulations because the management of oil palm plantations is very important in this case.Smallholders' plantations will continue to be monitored and checked to maintain balance in management so that their plantation production meets expectations or standards [14][15][16].Replanting utilizing the underplanting system approach necessitates discipline in performing proper cultivation (Good Agriculture Practice) because the underplanting system has flaws that result in production that falls short of what independent oil palm producers want [10,11] With relatively large manufacturing inputs, production results should also meet expectations.

Income of independent smallholder oil palm after replanting with a conventional and underplanting systems
Farming income is the final percentage collected by farmers after replanting in oil palm cultivation.Production, production selling prices, and production costs all have an impact on income.Oil palm plantation production in the conventional system is higher than in the underplanting system by 827/kg/ha/year, resulting in a larger revenue from conventional system oil palm farming (Figure 3).
Meanwhile, in terms of production costs, the underplanting system incurs significantly greater production expenses than the conventional system, resulting in lower income for independent smallholder oil palm engaged in oil palm farming in the underplanting system than in the conventional system.After replanting the conventional system, independent smallholder oil palm plantation income reached IDR 22,323,490/ha/year.The underplanting system only achieved IDR 12,519,214/ha/year.The difference of IDR 9,804,276/ha/year suggests that conventional system produces a better income than underplanting.This occurs in the field where plant growth is better supported by the adoption of good agriculture practice (GAP), which has an impact on production outputs when appropriate inputs are used.
In terms of plant growth, conventional methods produce good plant growth when appropriate inputs are used.Figure 3 depicts the effect of applying fertilizer at least three times each year on tree development and high FFB output.The traditional system produces 38,094 kg/ha/year of FFB.The underplanting approach produces higher yields with cheaper fertilizer expenses.Even if there are two plants in one field, old and new plants, the underplanting strategy does not increase yield.Most rejuvenation using the underplanting approach fails due to poor growth of new plants and easy attacks by Oryctes sp pests and Ganoderma sp disease [10].The main problem faced by farmers when replanting is the loss of main income from their oil palm plantations, especially for farmers who only have an area of no more than 2 ha.By replanting farmers will not get income from their oil palm plantations but can use the land for replanting until new plants produce at around three years of age.On way that can be done is by planting horticultural plants on oil palm replanting land [5].However, the underplanting system approach is preferred by independent smallholder oil palm since farmers do not have a huge quantity of land (more than one stretch), and if the conventional system is used, farmers will lose their main source of revenue for around 3.5 years [17].Aside from that, farmers must save for the price of maintaining their oil palm plants, as well as the costs of their household necessities.All oil palm growers, whether they have replanting or are about to will replanting, must consider this.

Conclusions and suggestions
Based on the title and objectives of this study, it is possible to conclude that the revenue of independent smallholder oil palm farming after rejuvenation with a traditional system is more than the income of underplanting farming.Because the traditional system approach gives excellent value in terms of both production results and production expenses.Cultivation in excellent agricultural practices is becoming more popular in conventional systems, affecting production yields.Farmers who do not have land less than 2 ha are advised to use revitalizing land by planting horticulture plants before the oil palm plants reach the age of 3 or 4 years.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Production after replanting in the smallholder palm oil plantation.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Description income smallholder oil palm after replanting with conventional system and underplanting system.