16 December 2025, by Sara Jansen
1. What is the biggest risk of this project?
“Time. The current trees are old. They are producing fewer and fewer nuts. If we don’t replant now, farmers will switch to palm oil out of necessity. Then you will lose the forest and the soil.”
2. Why go to all that trouble for agroforestry? Isn’t it easier to grow just one type of tree? “Monoculture is asking for trouble. It depletes the soil, and if the price of coconuts drops, the farmer goes bankrupt. By planting cocoa and spices between the coconut trees, you spread the financial risk and keep the soil healthy.”
3. Why on an island in the middle of nowhere?
“Because Simeulue can still be saved. On Sumatra, large-scale deforestation is already a fact. Here, we can scale up before the bulldozers arrive.”
4. How is your oil different from the rest?
“A lot of ‘virgin’ oil is secretly processed or heated. Our oil stays below 48 degrees and is pressed locally. That difference in quality is why international buyers keep coming back.”
5. When will you open the champagne?
“When replanting is the norm here, rather than the exception. When a farmer here earns more from standing timber than from felled timber, then we will have succeeded.”
Clear language. Will you assist Luke in winning the race against time? View the full interview below.
