Data comprise weight (grams) of dried oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) frond litter remaining in a variety of litter bags after 10, 30, 60 and 90 days buried under the litter layer in oil palm plantations located in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The bags all initially contained four grams of dried oil palm frond cut into 2 cm sections and the bags were oven-dried at 70oC to a constant weight. The plantations consisted of mature oil palm (data from 2014), and mature and replanted oil palm (data from 2016-2017) plots which are part of a large-scale ecological experiment programme (the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture project, established in 2013). Eighteen plots were examined across three estates – plots in Ujung Tanjung and Kandista estates were planted in 1987 to 1992 and are mature or over-mature oil palm, while Libo plots (2016-2017 dataset only) were replanted in 2014. Plots were organised in triplets and in Ujung Tanjung and Kandista, for each triplet one plot was assigned to each of three vegetation treatments: reduced vegetation cover, normal vegetation management and enhanced vegetation cover. There were three types of litter bags: fine mesh, 2mm mesh, and fine mesh with four 1 cm holes. Decomposition was measured six times from 2013 to 2017, including a reduced protocol in May 2016 at the peak of an El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) related drought. The project 'Managing tropical agricultural ecosystems for resistance and recovery of ecosystem processes' was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council under NE/P00458X/1. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/592051e6-016f-49c6-9ef9-799a0f842100