Letters in Economic Research Updates
From Recovered Assets to Sustainable Public Value: The Developmental Role of Agrinas Palma Nusantara in Transforming Indonesiaâs Palm Oil Sector
Abstract
Loso Judijanto
Indonesia’s palm oil economy faces a dual challenge: sustaining its contributions to growth, employment, food and energy security while improving land governance, productivity, social legitimacy and environmental performance. This qualitative narrative-integrative literature review examines the expected developmental role of PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero), a state-owned enterprise transformed in 2025 and entrusted with rapidly expanding plantation assets recovered or assigned by the state. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature published between 2020 and August 2026, the company’s 2025 Annual Report and selected official disclosures, the article develops an Asset-to-Public-Value Transformation (APVT) framework. The framework treats entrusted hectares as inputs rather than outcomes and argues that developmental value arises only when heterogeneous assets are converted into lawful, productive, traceable, inclusive, higher-value and environmentally safeguarded systems. The review identifies eleven interdependent roles spanning asset-governance normalisation, productive rehabilitation, infrastructure, digital governance, smallholder and cooperative upgrading, downstream value creation, renewable energy, circular bioeconomy, natural-capital stewardship, innovation and human capital, and measurable public value. It also identifies legal heterogeneity, scale- capability mismatch, financing and infrastructure requirements, social conflict, ecological liabilities, mission overload and commodity-market risk as major constraints. A sequenced roadmap and multidimensional performance scorecard are proposed. The article concludes that Agrinas should be assessed through demonstrable additionality from better stewardship, capability building and value-chain integration rather than administrative control over land alone.