Nucleus estate and smallholder (NES) is a farming system for commodity crops, often oil palm, practised in different world regions.
Clearing land, building roads, and planting trees on sizeable areas requires not only elevated economic power but also technical skills.
[2] The scheme has a long history in Indonesia, where it is commonly known as Inti-Plasma farming, Inti being the nucleus and plasma the smallholdings.
[3] This form of inti-plasma is called PIR Trans which stands for Perkebunan Inti Rakyat Transmigrasi, i.e. Nucleus Estate Smallholders Project for Transmigrants.
It stands for Kredit Koperasi Primer Anggota, i.e. Credit for Cooperative Primary Members and is not attached to the transmigration program.
However, indigenous populations willing to participate in such a scheme, had to give away parts of their land to become both inti and plasma oil palm farms.
Such arrangements depend on the individual negotiation between village communities and oil palm companies and most commonly result in deals wherein 80% of the land becomes core plantation (inti) and 20% plasma.
FELCRA and SALCRA, the Federal and the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authorities followed similar approaches, yet focussing on local populations, not on resettlements.