Research publication - Forests, Trees and Agroforestry

The expansion of oil palm plantation is a necessity in Indonesia. The global market demand pressure and the need to accelerate national economic growth have supported the occurrence of massively expansion of oil palm plantation in Indonesia. Although it contributes many benefits from the economic side, but in another side, the oil palm plantation also gives social and environmental impacts. Such impacts are, among others, such as the changes of agrarian structure, land dispute, livelihood system of rural household, lack of biodiversity, crop monoculturalization, and deforestation. This research is aimed to describe socio-economic impacts caused by the expansion of oil palm plantation toward the livelihood system of rural household. By using livelihood survey and deep interview, this research obtains a fact that the oil palm plantation has, as if, provided prosperity for the rural household, but what really happens is high process of livelihood vulnerability and dependency toward income gained from the salary in oil palm plantation.