Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia

Farm households in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas continue to rapidly adopt oil palm, often at the expense of rainforests and traditional food crops. The environmental and income implications of oil palm expansion have been extensively documented, albeit primarily using data...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr., Alamsyah, Zulkifli, Sibhatu, Kibrom T.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140428
_version_ 1855522400342376448
author Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
Alamsyah, Zulkifli
Sibhatu, Kibrom T.
author_browse Alamsyah, Zulkifli
Sibhatu, Kibrom T.
Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
author_facet Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
Alamsyah, Zulkifli
Sibhatu, Kibrom T.
author_sort Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Farm households in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas continue to rapidly adopt oil palm, often at the expense of rainforests and traditional food crops. The environmental and income implications of oil palm expansion have been extensively documented, albeit primarily using data from Southeast Asia. Beyond a few case studies, research on the links between oil palm adoption, food security and dietary diversity among smallholders is scarce. This research gap is partly addressed in this study using data from Cameroon and Indonesia, two countries with different backgrounds in oil palm production, history and marketing systems. Oil palm is native to Cameroon but is an exotic crop in Indonesia that was commercialized a few decades ago. Household food insecurity experience scales and dietary diversity scores are computed, and descriptive and regression estimations are employed for the empirical analysis. Opposing results are revealed, reflecting the contextual differences between the two oil palm production frontiers. Oil palm farmers in Cameroon consume less diverse food than non-oil palm farmers. In Indonesia, on the other hand, oil palm farmers perform better than their non-oil palm counterparts and consume more diversified foods, possibly explaining why smallholders in Southeast Asia continue to adopt the crop rapidly. No statistically significant relationship is obtained between oil palm production and food security. The findings also suggest that income, employment, and farm production diversity may explain the observed relationship between oil palm adoption, food security and diets. Given this, oil palm production may not be a universally suitable strategy to improve food and nutrition insecurity but may be useful in some production frontiers. Context-specific and tailored policies are needed to make oil palm cultivation and food systems more nutrition-sensitive and environment-friendly.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace140428
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1404282025-12-08T10:06:44Z Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr. Alamsyah, Zulkifli Sibhatu, Kibrom T. agricultural production oil palms policies crops smallholders food security poverty dietary diversity Farm households in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas continue to rapidly adopt oil palm, often at the expense of rainforests and traditional food crops. The environmental and income implications of oil palm expansion have been extensively documented, albeit primarily using data from Southeast Asia. Beyond a few case studies, research on the links between oil palm adoption, food security and dietary diversity among smallholders is scarce. This research gap is partly addressed in this study using data from Cameroon and Indonesia, two countries with different backgrounds in oil palm production, history and marketing systems. Oil palm is native to Cameroon but is an exotic crop in Indonesia that was commercialized a few decades ago. Household food insecurity experience scales and dietary diversity scores are computed, and descriptive and regression estimations are employed for the empirical analysis. Opposing results are revealed, reflecting the contextual differences between the two oil palm production frontiers. Oil palm farmers in Cameroon consume less diverse food than non-oil palm farmers. In Indonesia, on the other hand, oil palm farmers perform better than their non-oil palm counterparts and consume more diversified foods, possibly explaining why smallholders in Southeast Asia continue to adopt the crop rapidly. No statistically significant relationship is obtained between oil palm production and food security. The findings also suggest that income, employment, and farm production diversity may explain the observed relationship between oil palm adoption, food security and diets. Given this, oil palm production may not be a universally suitable strategy to improve food and nutrition insecurity but may be useful in some production frontiers. Context-specific and tailored policies are needed to make oil palm cultivation and food systems more nutrition-sensitive and environment-friendly. 2023-09 2024-03-14T12:09:30Z 2024-03-14T12:09:30Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140428 en Open Access Elsevier Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.; Alamsyah, Zulkifli; and Sibhatu, Kibrom T. 2023. Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia. Journal of Cleaner Production 418418(15 September 2023): 138085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138085
spellingShingle agricultural production
oil palms
policies
crops
smallholders
food security
poverty
dietary diversity
Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr.
Alamsyah, Zulkifli
Sibhatu, Kibrom T.
Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia
title Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia
title_full Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia
title_fullStr Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia
title_full_unstemmed Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia
title_short Oil palm expansion, food security and diets: Comparative evidence from Cameroon and Indonesia
title_sort oil palm expansion food security and diets comparative evidence from cameroon and indonesia
topic agricultural production
oil palms
policies
crops
smallholders
food security
poverty
dietary diversity
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/140428
work_keys_str_mv AT tabeojongmartinpauljr oilpalmexpansionfoodsecurityanddietscomparativeevidencefromcameroonandindonesia
AT alamsyahzulkifli oilpalmexpansionfoodsecurityanddietscomparativeevidencefromcameroonandindonesia
AT sibhatukibromt oilpalmexpansionfoodsecurityanddietscomparativeevidencefromcameroonandindonesia