Shallow roots: The early oil palm industry in Southeast Asia, 1848–1940

Abstract

In most narratives, the beginning of the oil palm industry in Southeast Asia boils down to entrepreneurial spirit, scientific research, and good fortune. The colonial context in which the industry emerged barely figures in the story. This article argues that colonial power was critical, providing access to land and labour that proved more important than plant selection, capital, or technology. The plantation model pushed the region ahead of Africa as the leading exporter of palm oil by the late 1930s, but its future was in doubt as the Depression and Second World War shattered the colonial order.

Oil palm and rubber-driven deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia (2000-2021) and efforts toward zero deforestation commitments

“…In Southeast Asia, it was introduced as an ornamental crop in 1848 in Bogor, Java Island of Indonesia. The rst commercial oil palm plantation was established on the Sumatra Island of Indonesia in 1911, followed by Selangor State in Malaysia in 1917 (Robins 2020). Currently, large-scale production of this crop is primarily concentrated in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Latin America, and Africa and provides a livelihood for approximately four million smallholders worldwide (RSPO 2023).…”

Cultivating “Care”: Colonial Botany and the Moral Lives of Oil Palm at the Twentieth Century’s Turn

“…Land, even when occupied by forest-reliant peoples, had been considered empty and available for plantations (Harper 1997). To work these plantations, colonists drew on their stores of laborers from other colonies, who worked under brutal forced labor conditions (Robins 2020;Ramachandran 1994;Ramasamy 1992; Lees 2017). As Robins surmises, "Contrasting the Southeast Asian oil palm story with the African experience makes it clear that the rise of the plantation-whether populated with oil palm or rubber or anything else-was not down to a lucky plant, or scientific know-how or entrepreneurship.…”

“…Across the region, planters valued the tree solely for its looks…" (Robins 2021: 153). This "tall handsome plant, with a wide crown of large, drooping, pinnate leaves" (Henderson 1952: 10) Robins (2020) for a detailed discussion of this, and references to further archival sources. 49 Letter from Sir Walter Egerton to Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, from Old Calabar, 7 June 1904, RBGK DC 185/195.…”

“…From Buitenzorg, and from there via Singapore, seeds had been sent to Sumatra around 1879 (Burkill 1966[1935], 1: 911–12). It was while the offspring of these seeds were growing there almost two decades later that Adrien Hallet, a Belgian agro-economist with experience working among oil palms in the Congo Free State, recognized the uniqueness of the oil palms he saw lining avenues while scouting the possibility of making a profit from the palm in the region (Hartley 1988: 17; Berger and Martin 2000: 399; Robins 2020). He shared his information about these uniquely productive palms with his collaborator and friend, Henri Fauconnier, who took seeds from these original avenue palms (which in turn were bred from the original 1850 population from the Buitenzorg Gardens), to plant his first plantation in Malaysia in 1911–1912 (Giacomin 2018a: 295).…”