8.2. Dutch Territory Project (Dutch Indonesia)

(1) Overview
Our garden is located approximately 400 kilometers southeast of Medan City, the capital of the eastern coast of Sumatra, in an area approximately 100 degrees east longitude and 2 and a half degrees north latitude. If you take a ferry from Labuanbilik Port, commonly known as Pane, and sail upstream through the muddy waters of the Bourmon River through the Nitsuba palm forest, you will see the panoramic view of the oil palm grove Ajamu Plantation on your right after about 9 km. K.P.M. Steamship Company has a ferry service from Belawan Delhi, Medan’s seaport every other day, and once a week from Singapore, arriving on the second day from Belawan Delhi and on the third day from Singapore. If you take a car from Medan City, you can arrive at the garden on the same day.

Initially, in 1931, land rights of approximately 6,000 hectares were obtained from the Dutch government, but due to circumstances in 1933, approximately 2,500 hectares were returned and the land is now approximately 3,500 hectares. However, since the start of land cultivation in 1931, the land has been cleared and planted by several hundred hectares every year, and in October 1938, the entire garden was cleared and planted. The number of trees has reached approximately 500,000 over 3,231 hectares. The production period began in 1937, and the production area increased every year thereafter, and as of April 1941, the fruit bunch collection area was over 2,134 hectares, but the whole orchard had reached the production period. It will still take several years from now. Meanwhile, the oil mill is also expanding, producing approximately 7,500 tons of palm oil in 1941, but this is expected to reach approximately 10,000 tons per year within a few years. The project site employs 15 Japanese employees, including the current manager Katsuhiko Miyaji, who succeeded the first manager Hitoshi Kajita, and several foreign employees. The total number of farm and factory workers was more than 1,000, including Jawajin and other native coolies.

(2) Oil palm

Oil palms are an emerging tropical oil crop, and the palm oil that will be exploited is cheaper to produce and more competitive than other oils, and has an extremely wide range of uses. Therefore, cultivation is also promising, but this project requires a considerable amount of capital, and very few Japanese people have undertaken this project. Our company deliberately chose this emerging industry, the oil palm cultivation business, as a means of expanding into the south.

(a) Properties

After sowing, oil palms are transplanted from the seedbed to the growing bed and enter the fruiting period three years after main planting, and the peak production period is 15.6 years. Although its economic lifespan has not been determined, it is said that it can continue to be harvested for up to 30 years. The fruit is roughly shaped, reddish in color, and contains a single hard seed called a palm kernel. These fruits gather from 5,600 to as many as 2,3,000 and form a jewel-shaped fruit cluster, which is called a fruit cluster, weighing from 15-6 kg to 40-50 kg each.

(b) Purpose

Palm oil is used as a raw material for soaps, candles, as a lubricant, etc., and is used to make high-quality margarine. In particular, margarine made from palm oil is rich in vitamins, so its use in this field is extremely promising. In addition, soaps made from palm oil and palm kernel oil have the property of being usable in irrigation and other general hard water, and have good foaming properties, making them indispensable as soaps for weaving threads and other textiles. Furthermore, it is indispensable as a rust preventive for tin plating on iron plates, and there is plenty of room for new uses such as electrical insulation paints and aircraft lubricants. Palm kernel oil, which is produced by squeezing palm kernels, is used for margarine, soap ingredients, confectionery materials, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics manufacturing, and the residue is used for animal feed. It goes without saying that it has common uses with vegetable oils and fats such as coconut oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, linseed oil, and olive oil, and animal fats and oils such as fish oil and beef and pork fat, and can be substituted for these.

(3) Production status

In May 1937, the first palm oil production plant in this orchard was constructed using the German Krupp method, and operations began immediately. At that time, the annual oil extraction capacity was 1,000 tons, but as the yield of fruit bunches increased, it became necessary to gradually expand the factory capacity, and the first expansion was carried out in 1938, followed by the second expansion the following year. The project was started and completed in 1940, increasing the production capacity to approximately 8,000 tons, and is currently undergoing partial expansion and improvements with the aim of increasing annual production to 10,000 tons.

The fruit bunches that have matured on the farm are collected in a timely manner and transported to the factory using rails built within the premises, where they are immediately sterilized. Then, after several steps, the palm oil produced at the factory that produces palm oil is stored in an oil tank within the farm and transported to Labuanbilik Port. From there, the oil is pumped onto an oil tanker owned by K.P.M. Steamship Company, which sails up the Bulmon River to a pier in the park, and is transported to an oil storage tank at Belawandeli, the palm oil export port on Sumatra Island. Here, the Sumatran palm oil export pool would load it onto a ship along with palm oil from other companies and sell it to Europe, the United States, and other markets, but with the outbreak of the current European war, almost all exports to Europe ceased. Therefore, our company was extremely concerned about the difficulty of disposing of our products, but fortunately in recent years sales channels for Oriental markets such as Shanghai and Yokohama have been developed.

Finally, the land area and production of the Ajamu garden are as follows.

– Cultivated area: 3,539.7 hectares

– Planted area: 3,231.7 (approximately 500,000 oil palm trees)

Collection area　2,134.0

Uncollected area 1,097.7

– Production volume

Year Palm oil Palm kernel

1937 519 tons None

1938 1,556 tons 195 tons

1939 3,165 tons 699 tons

1940 4,542 tons 957 tons

1941 7,000 tons 1,500 tons

1942 9,500 tons 1,900 tons

1943 11,700 tons 2,400 tons