The world’s population is expected to increase to more than 9 billion people in 2050, with more than half living in urban areas. The demand for vegetable oil by this “urbanizing” population is expected to be between 200–
The world’s population is expected to increase to more than 9 billion people in 2050, with more than half living in urban areas. The demand for vegetable oil by this “urbanizing” population is expected to be between 200–340 million tons, based on a range of per capita consumption (Corley, 2009).
At the start of the new millennium in 2000, consumption was 85 million tons per year. By 2012, it increased by 77% to reach over 150 million tons, largely due to changing dietary habits particularly in rapidly developing countries, with China and India now accounting for 30% of the total edible oil consumption.
Oil palm has become the most important source of vegetable oil due to its very high productivity, low production costs, use versatility and high profitability. Palm and palm kernel oil now account for more than 30% of all edible oils consumed.
There has been rapid expansion of oil palm in Malaysia and Indonesia, which now produces more than 85% of the world’s palm oil. Oil palm has replaced such perennial crops as rubber and cocoa in many areas, and according to recent studies has also expanded in areas of the rainforest that in parts were previously logged or cleared for other uses. Expansion has been on both mineral and peat soils. Details can be found in Koh and Wilcove (2008) and Carlson et al. (2012).
Agricultural intensification is often considered when there are incentives to increase productivity per unit land area. In the same way, there is a propensity for expansion as a solution for increasing productivity when incentives are provided for expanding productive area. What is meant by intensification? In the context of minimizing expansion of cultivated land and at the same time increasing production, intensification refers to increased productivity per un