Commodity plantations are one of the important contributors to Indonesia's foreign exchange earnings. The value of plantation exports in the 2022/2023 period reached 42.03 billion USD, and there was growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the plantation sub-sector in 2022 by 1.64%. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and the Ministry of Trade (MoT), reveal that four of Indonesia's top ten export commodities come from the plantation sector, namely coffee, palm oil, cocoa and rubber. These four commodities have massive plantation areas, which are above 1 million ha. However, until now only palm oil has spatial data available and has been formalized through the Minister of Agriculture Decree No. 833 in 2019. The other three commodities, namely cocoa, rubber and coffee, are still tabulated data.

The facts related to the important role of plantations in Indonesia and the situation of plantation mapping development in Indonesia that still needs to be improved, WWF-Indonesia and several Civil Society Organization institutions believe that the development of a mapping system is needed. This is the background of commodity mapping research activities that utilize several methods.

Picture 1. Focus group discussion on the preparation of plantation commodity mapping methodology

WWF Indonesia in collaboration with Mitra Geotama Indonesia (MGI) and the Faculty of Geography, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) conducted a mapping study of cocoa, rubber, oil palm and coffee plantation commodities. This series of activities began with a focus group discussion (FGD) held in early 2024 in Yogyakarta. The FGD aimed to gather as many expert opinions, practitioners, and related references as possible regarding commodity mapping methodologies, and strengthen the knowledge base and provide input for the commodity mapping plan to be carried out. The resource persons involved in the activity were Prof. Projo Danoedoro from the Faculty of Geography UGM, Dr. Masita Dwi Mandini Manessa from the Department of Geography, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA), University of Indonesia (UI), and Dr. Yudhi Setiawan from the Faculty of Forestry, IPB University. Other participants who participated in the online FGD included representatives of academics, government agencies, civil society groups/development partners, and plantation business associations.

The plantation commodity mapping process itself took approximately 11 months and the results of the mapping were shared in a public dissemination and consultation activity in December 2024. In this activity, which was carried out in collaboration with the Indonesian Science Fund (DIPI), the results of the mapping of 3 plantation commodities were informed to 69 participants from government agencies, academics, development partner CSOs and business associations. This forum was also a means to discuss responses and suggestions in an effort to improve the study results and their follow-up.

The presentation in this event was started by Yudhistira Nurtheisa who delivered material on mapping methodology, images of mapped areas accompanied by satellite images of mapped commodities and various challenges in commodity mapping that can be resolved. From WWF-Indonesia, Adhitya Adhyaksa as Sustainable Palm Oil Specialist also conveyed the advanced analysis of plantation commodity data and the opportunity to utilize mapped commodity data, both as an initial reference related to distribution, supporting productivity improvement, accelerating eSTDB assistance and other relevant analyses that require spatial data. In addition to the presenters, WWF-Indonesia also invited responders with several backgrounds, including responders from the technical and scientific side of Prof. Projo Danoedoro from UGM, from the government side the Directorate General of the Ministry of Agriculture represented by Harris Siregar and from the plantation company association side present Insan Syafaat from PISAgro.

Picture 2. Dissemination and public consultation process of commodity mapping study results

Picture 3. Dissemination and public consultation on the results of the plantation commodity mapping study

In the effort to implement sustainable practices in the plantation sector, including oil palm plantations, commodity mapping is a very useful basic step. Especially for oil palm, the spatial data generated can support the Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) Certification program, smallholder oil palm replanting, Letter of Cultivation Registration (STDB) to the protection of biodiversity in areas surrounding plantations. These programs ensure that plantations have no adverse impacts on nature and people. Therefore, sThe more parties that conduct mapping activities will further enrich data references, increase the potential for collaboration and data reconciliation in order to complete the basic data on the distribution of Indonesian plantation commodities,strengthening plantation development as a whole, and supporting sustainable plantations in everysector.