Potencyand Development Strategy of Beef Cattle Integrated on Palm Oil Plantation in North Sumatra

The problem faced by people in North Sumatra was insufficient supply of beef in line with rapid growth of population. On the other hand, there was a lot of byproducts from oil palm plantation and CPO industry which can be used as feed for cattle. Therefore, growth of cattle population was very slow. The objective of this study was to describe potential and strategies for cattle development in several oil palm plantations in Labuhan Batu Utara district in order to increase productivity and income of farmers by leveraging local resources optimally and pay attention to internal and external aspects. The study was carried out in June until November 2014. Method used were surveys from the farmers who maintain beef cattle, and followed by observation on oil palm plantations i.e. PT Umada, PT Smart Panegoran, PT Smart Penantian, PT Binanga Karya and PTPN IV Berangir. Data and information was analyzed descriptively by using SWOT analysis. Results showed that the number of cattle in oil palm plantations was as much as 7,400 heads, which was rised in the 15,850 ha of plantation areas. Population of cattle was only 23.3%, it was still very potential to develop cattle in this area. The strategy of development should be done by implementing partnership symbiotic mutualism between oil palm plantations with breeders. It can be an example of implementation in order to increase income of farmers by using local resources