TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Converting peatlands into plantation areas has been noted as one of the major cause of forest fire in Indonesia, which consumed 2.6 million hectares by the end of last year. "Peatlands are not good for planting [crops]," said Iwan Setiawan, Disaster Risk Management Specialist for the World Bank on Thursday, February 25, 2016.
Iwan added that converting peatlands into plantation areas took a very long time and massive cost. For example, as Iwan explained, the converted peatland in South Sumatera took 30 years before it can be planted just like normal fertile land.
Another example, Irwan added, oil palm plantation in Malaysia, which was converted from peatland, can only produce oil palm that has lower quality compared to oil palm produced from normal land.
Iwan said that businesses should attempt to find other land to be converted into plantation areas.
"Peatland should be better left alone," said Magda Adriani, an economic analysis researcher of the World Bank.
URSULA FLORENE