Thursday 28 May 2009

Indonesia to double palm oil production by 2020

Indonesia aims to more than double its crude palm oil output to 40 million tonnes by 2020 through increased yields and more plantations, officials said Wednesday.

Average oil palm plantation yields would increase from 3.5 tonnes to 4.5 tonnes a hectare while land under plantation would expand from 7.9 million hectares (19.5 million acres) to about 10 million, they said.

Plans to expand palm oil plantations have been opposed by environmental groups, who say Indonesia’s forests are vital carbon sinks in the fight against climate change and an irreplaceable source of biodiversity.

But officials say another 3.4 million hectares of carbon-rich peatlands have been set aside for future plantations, while forest land available for development stands at 10.1 million hectares.
That is around the size of Greece, or 20 times the size of neighbour Singapore.

Companies will be able to develop plantations on peatland areas this year after the government lifted a one-year freeze on peatland conversion imposed after protests from environmental groups.

Indonesian Palm Oil Board chairman Franky Widjaja told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a palm oil conference in Jakarta that higher yields meant fewer plantations would be required.
“Around 40 percent of our plantations are run by smallholders whose yields fall below three tonnes (a hectare). There’s much room for improvement when it comes to such plantations,” he said.

“If we can achieve at least a yield of four tonnes a hectare we would only need total plantation land of 10 million hectares.”Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO), is expected to produce 19 to 20 million tonnes of the commodity this year.Palm oil is used in everything from biscuits to soups, cosmetics and biofuel.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, a deputy to the coordinating minister for the economy, said there was a danger that large increases in CPO output might result in oversupply.

“The rising price of CPO over recent years has prompted more smallholder farmers to switch to planting oil palm from other crops such as coffee and rubber,” he said.

He said a balance had to be struck between production and demand, and industries such as biodiesel should be encouraged to ensure there was a market for expanded CPO production.

The biodiesel industry has been lobbying the government for a subsidy on the low-pollution fuel in order to cut production costs and make the industry viable in the face of falling crude oil prices and rising feedstock prices.

Krisnamurthi said Indonesia aimed to use 40 percent of its CPO for energy production, 30 percent for food and the remainder for other purposes such as cosmetics by 2020.

Something2Share:

That's good news for planters, plantation employees and workers. No worry of loosing job. Still many opportunities in the next 10 years!

Sunday 10 May 2009

SELLING COMBS TO MONKS? IMPOSSIBLE!

If your company, Comb manufacturers assigned you to sell the comb to the monks in the temples? Can you do it?

What is your answer?
a) No Way , Impossible!
b) Crazy!
c) I will give it a try in order to follow my boss'instruction.
d) Well, I will try.
e) Ya, I think I can sell ??? (5pcs? 10pcs? 50pcs? or more...you name it)

Pick an answer above and read below to find out if you are/you are going to be a successful person or not at all.

The Story: SELLING COMB TO THE MONK

There was one company "manufacturing combs" which intends to expand its business and so the management wanted to employ a new Sales Manager.

The company ADVERTISED the vacancy in the newspaper . They are so many peoples turned up for the interview everyday....accumulated to almost a hundred peoples in just few days.

The Company now having the problem to choose the right candidate for this position . So, The Company interviewer had set A Difficult Task to whom who want to come for final interview.


The Task Is To : Selling Comb To Monks In Temples

Only 3 Applicants willing to stay on for this Final Interview challenge. (Mr A , Mr B , Mr C)

The Chief Interviewer instructed: "Now I want three of you here to sell these wooden combs to the monks in the temples. You only have 10 days to do it and report to me after that."

After 10 days, they reported.

The Chief Interviewer asked Mr A:"How many have you sold?"
Mr A answered:"Only One."
The Chief Interviewer asked: "How did you manage to sell?
Mr A answered: "The monks in the temples scolded me when I show them the comb . But on my way back to downhill I met a young monk who bought it to scratch his head due to dandruff."

The Chief Interviewer then asked Mr B: "How many did you sell?
Mr B replied: "10 pieces. I went to a shrine and noticed many devotees's hair was in bad shape due to strong wind outside the shrine. The monk in there listened to my advice and bought 10 combs for their devotees in showing respect to the Buddha statue."

Then, The Chief Interviewer asked Mr C:"How about you?"
Mr C replied: "1,000 units."
The Chief Interviewer and the other 2 interviews were astounded.
The Chief Interviewer asked: "How you did that?"
Mr C replied: "I went to a famous temple. After observing for few days I discovered that there were many tourists. I then told the Chief Abbot there. "Sifu, those who come here are much devoted. If you could give them a gift, it will be more elating to them. I told him that I have a bulk of combs here and ask him to raft his handwriting on the combs as a present to those visit here. He was very delighted and straight away ordered 1,000 pieces."

MORAL OF THE STORY ;

HARVARD UNIVERSITY had done a research that says :-

1) 85% of success is due to attitude and 15% is capability
2) Attitude is more important than intelligence , specials skills and luck .


In another word , professional knowledge only constitutes for 15% of success of a person and 85% is due to self-cultivation, public relation and adaptability ability.

Still remember the story of Selling Shoes to African ?
When 2 Salesmen were sent to that continent, one of them reported: "Can not do it. No one wears shoes there?"
The second salesman said: "It is good to market . A lot of opportunity."

Success and Failure is dependent on how we face problems.

Remember, when the economic is good, there are peoples going bankrupt .

When business is bad , there are many new millionaires produced as well. So , apply now the 85% right working attitude fully.

Something2Share:

I believe this basic principle of 85% right working attitude is also applicable to Plantation Management.

Many problems encountered by planters in their plantations can be overcome for they are not as difficult as "selling comb to monks in temples". Logically it's impossible for no monk will buy a comb because it is used for combing hairs. Monks in temples are simply not your customers!

Now with this story, we learn to "think out of the box" and even with 15% capability, we are confident to solve problems for nothing is impossible as long as we have the RIGHT WORKING ATTITUDE with COMMITMENT full of DISCIPLINE, DEDICATION and DETERMINATION. Every time when we watch MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie, the ending is always POSSIBLE.

DO NOT FIND EXCUSES NOT TO DO THE POSSIBLE, BUT FIND WAYS AND MEANS TO DO THE POSSIBLE. That's the right working attitude!