Oil palm (Elaeis) is an important industrial plant that produces cooking oil, industrial oil, and fuel (biodiesel). Its plantations generate huge profits so that many old forests and plantations are converted into oil palm plantations. Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil. In Indonesia its distribution is in Aceh, east coast of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi.
Oil Palm was imported to Indonesia by the Dutch East Indies government in 1848. Some of the seeds were grown in bogor gardens, while the remaining seeds were planted on the side of the road as ornamental plants in Deli, North Sumatra in the 1870s. At the same time increased demand for vegetable oils due to the Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century From here then came the idea of making oil palm plantations based on plant selection from Bogor and Deli, then dikenallah type of palm "Deli Dura".
 and Aceh. The total area of plantation is 5,123 ha. Breeding and breeding centers were established in Marihat (known as AVROS), North Sumatra and in Rantau Panjang, Kuala Selangor, Malaysia from 1911-1912. In Malaya, the first plantation opened in 1917 at Tenmaran Field, Kuala Selangor using Dura Deli seed from Rantau Panjang. In West Africa alone large oil palm plantations began in 1910. Until the Japanese occupation, the Dutch East Indies was the world's leading supplier of palm oil. Since the Japanese occupation, production has dropped to a fifth from 1940. Improvement efforts during the Republican period were carried out with the Bumil (military-workers) program that failed to improve yields, and major suppliers were later taken over by Malaya (then Malaysia). New since the New Order era the expansion of planting area is encouraged, combined with PIR plantation system. The expansion of oil palm plantations continues due to rising oil prices so that the role of vegetable oil increases as an alternative energy. Some of the palm trees planted in the Bogor Botanical Gardens are still alive, with a height of about 12m, and the oldest oil palm in Southeast Asia originating from Africa.