alm oil plantations and processing have become a strategic industry for Indonesia. Palm oil is the country’s third largest export earner, contributing substantial foreign exchange earnings and providing opportunities for small-scale farmers to partake in this vibrant agro-business, thus developing the rural economy and spurring local employment. In Southeast Asia, palm oil is a traditional commodity dating back to the colonial period. But by the 1980s, increasingly high global demands for palm oil – for food products, cosmetics and even biofuels – led to industrial-scale plantations, particularly on Indonesia’s Sumatra and Kalimantan islands with their favorable climate and fertile, loamy soil conditions.