PALMOILMAGAZINE, MALAKA – The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) organized a two-day International Smallholders Workshop and Field Visit in Melaka, Malaysia, on 24 – 25 July 2023. The workshop’s theme was “Improvement of Sustainable Certification Achievement, Enhancement of Good Agricultural Practices, and Lessons Learned on Technology Adoption.”
During the event, participants exchanged experiences and knowledge on various crucial topics, including the enhancement of smallholders’ capacity to implement sustainable practices. Emphasis was placed on adopting good agricultural practices, particularly focusing on mechanization and automation aspects that smallholders could adopt to improve their operations. Additionally, there were discussions concerning the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and its implications on the palm oil industry.
General Secretary of CPOPC, Rizal Affandi Lukman said, the smallholders as the upstream actors both in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Honduras should not be ignored. In the three countries, smallholders’ groups that cultivate palm oil reached 41%, 27% and 50% of the total palm oil plantations in each.
“This workship would be the significant place for every participant to escalate their awareness on good agricultural practices, reinforce their understanding about sustainability,” Rizal said, as in the official statement to Palmoilmagazine.com, Monday, (25/7/2023).
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Meanwhile, General Secretary of Ministry of Plantation and Commodity Malaysia, YBhg. Dato’ Mad Zaidi Bin Mohd Karli emphasized that every policy maker should encourage smallholders in their practices to fulfill the conditions in sustainability to realize it.
“We do realize that some smallholders face challenges to get certification because of financial issue. That is why the Government of Malaysia took proactive ways to allocate incentive fund to get Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) to enlighten our smallholders’ burdens,” Dato’ Mad Zaidi said.
Deputy in Food and Agribusiness Coordination Coordinator Ministry in Economy Indonesia, Musdhalifah Machmud said, Indonesia took the smallholders as solution and opportunity to go forward to realize more sustainable palm oil plantations. That is why the smallholders’ sustainable practices could be realized by improving policy(ies), good agricultural practices, and delivering trainings and advocacy for them.
Sub-Secretary of Plantation and Livestock Honduras, Ing. Roy Lazo Rodríguez emphasized that the helps from the government would not be enough to fulfill every support that the smallholders need to escalate their welfare. “Now Honduras is part of CPOPC. I do hope our smallholders and government could learn from each policy and practice,” Ing. Rodriguez said.
The workshop also covered field visit to palm oil plantations that belong to Sime Darby in Ladang Merlimau and smallholders’ plantations in Paya Dalam. There were 12 smallholders from Indonesia, 12 from Malaysia, and 9 representatives from the government and smallholders’ association form Papua New Guinea to learn automatic and mechanism aspects to escalate smallholders’ productivity.
Indonesia would be the host for the next workshop that would be running in 2024. (T2)