PALMOILMAGAZINE, NORTH LABUHANBATU – Twenty-seven independent smallholders from North Labuhanbatu Regency successfully completed Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification training conducted by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PFMA).
They are committed to supporting and accelerating the ISPO certification process in their region. The training took place from June 3 to 8, 2024, at Hotel Radisson in Medan, North Sumatera Province, as part of the government’s efforts to implement sustainable practices in the national palm oil industry.
The training followed the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture Number 38/2020, the latest regulation on sustainable principles in the palm oil industry. Since its planning in 2011, ISPO has aimed to address sustainability issues in the sector.
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According to the policy, all planters, including independent smallholders, are required to obtain an ISPO certificate within five years of the regulation’s publication. The primary challenge is the lack of awareness about ISPO among independent smallholders.
PFMA, in collaboration with the Directorate General of Plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, has been actively working to accelerate ISPO certification, especially for independent smallholders. As part of the 2024 Human Resource Development Program in Palm Oil Plantations (SDM PKS), PFMA conducted training sessions for independent smallholders and field counselors from the Agriculture Agency of Asahan Regency.
The training was delivered by PT. Koompasia Enviro Institute, which has extensive experience in helping thousands of independent smallholders achieve sustainable certification.
In an online speech, Arfie Thahar, Head of the Service Program Division at PFMA, stated that the institution, in cooperation with the Directorate General of Plantations and 15 other training institutions, conducted simultaneous training sessions across multiple regions in Indonesia, with a total of approximately 6,437 participants.
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“One training was ISPO training for planters. By having the training, it is hoped the independent smallholders would understand more and be ready to join ISPO certification process,” he said, as in the official statement to Palmoilmagazine.com, Tuesday (11/6/2024).
Head of Plantation that represented Head of Plantation and Livestock Agency North Sumatera Province, Banua Pane said to the participants to join every activity in the training with full of spirit. Pane emphasized it would be significant for them to be the front guard in ISPO certification acceleration in their region.
Head of Agriculture Agency Regency of North Labuhanbatu, Sudarija said that the training would be very valuable knowing that there would be massive challenges to implement ISPO certification for planters’ levels.
“For every participant, both from the field counselor and independent smallholders, take advantages on the training as much as you can to be our capital to develop other independent smallholders to get ISPO certificates for planters in the region,” Sudarija said.
Director of PT. Koompasia Enviro Institute, Henry Marpaung explained that besides the training and delivering materials in class, the participants did field visit to planters’ institution that got ISPO certificate, such as, Koperasi Produsen Sawit Muda Sedia (SAMUDA) in Aceh Tamiang. Marpaung said, the training would positively give energy to succeed ISPO certification in a whole.
One participant of the training, Pairin Santoso said that he was looking forward to the training. He was lucky to get insight from those experienceful and directly saw ISPO implementation in th field. Pairin hoped the knowledge he got would be told to others and Regency of North Labuhanbatu would immediately conduct ISPO certification for independent smallholders. (T2)
