The plantation sub-sector is continuing to face the structural issue of a poor data collection system for plantations. The data are still collected using a lengthy and stage-by-stage business process, manually, leading to an administrative product compilation method that is vulnerable to errors and the subjectivity of the data collection officers.

This policy paper analyzes the importance of improvements in the plantation data collection system, especially for several strategic plantation commodities, such as coffee, cocoa, and sugarcane. In the short and medium terms, improvements to data collection systems can focus on modernizing business processes and improving methodologies. In the long run, a data collection method that is based on objective measurements, such as a remote sensing method using satellite images should be developed to improve the quality of data on planted areas.