PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – Over the past 13 years, the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) program has been promoted for both corporate and independent smallholder planters. However, the realization of ISPO certification remains far from its target. Of the total 16.38 million hectares of palm oil plantations in Indonesia, only 5.84 million hectares, or 35.6%, have been certified, with 1,077 certifications issued under the new standard.
Since 2019, the government has introduced the *Rencana Aksi Nasional Kelapa Sawit Berkelanjutan* (RAN KSB), a national action plan for sustainable palm oil, running until 2024. This policy aims to prepare planters for mandatory ISPO certification and mandates both regional and central governments to enhance plantation governance through programs supported by national and regional budgets, along with multi-stakeholder cooperation.
Despite these efforts, RAN KSB has been minimally adopted across regions, with only 10 provinces and 22 regencies implementing the policy. The main challenges for planters in achieving ISPO certification include high certification costs, a complex process, legal hurdles, lack of awareness, and limited capacity in human resources and institutions. These issues are compounded for smallholders, whose circumstances further complicate the implementation of ISPO certification.
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Director of Plantation Product Marketing and Process, Prayudi Syamsuri said the government would try to revise the regulation about sustainable palm oil practices in Indonesia to solve such challenges.
“We are still formulating the revision to president’s regulation about ISPO by revising the Regulation of Minister of Agriculture Number 38 / 2020 about ISPO Certification System and President’s Regulation Number 44 / 2020 about ISPO,” Prayudi said in a dialogue with the theme “Percepatan Sertifikasi ISPO Bagi Para Pelaku Usaha Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit Melalui Pendekatan Yurisdiksi”, in the spare time of Bunex 2024 that Palmoilmagazine.com attended at ICE BSD in the midst of September 2024.
He thought, the revision would be about to ease the sustainable principle – fulfillment in palm oil plantation practices while maintaining the integrated principles. The concrete things to do would be about to accelerate the publication of cultivation documents, support the fund in ISPO process through Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PO PFMA).
“We would focus to accelerate the implementation and get the balance between process simplification and maintaining sustainability aspects,” he said.
Prayudi also mentioned that the government would do some things to integrate technology in the verification process to increase efficiency and accuracy in the new regulation fulfillment.
“We are optimist that by the new approach, we would be more responsive to what the markets demand on sustainable palm oil products globally,” Prayudi said. (P2)
