PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – Sabarudin, Chairman of the Serikat Petani Kelapa Sawit (SPKS), highlighted that jurisdictional certification could be a solution to reduce the high certification costs for smallholders, particularly in obtaining the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification.
“The certification process can be expensive, costing around Rp 4 million per hectare. But with jurisdictional certification, we hope the costs will be lower,” he stated during a dialogue on the theme “Accelerating ISPO Certification for Palm Oil Business Actors Through a Jurisdictional Approach” at Bunex 2024, which Palmoilmagazine.com attended at ICE BSD in mid-September 2024.
Jurisdictional certification refers to a certification approach based on a specific administrative area, such as a regency or province, and involves multiple parties, including regional governments and companies. Support from the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) and palm oil profit-sharing schemes could facilitate the implementation of this type of certification, helping smallholders obtain necessary cultivation documents.
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Sabarudin also noted that some palm oil regions have already begun the verification and process towards jurisdictional certification. This initiative not only aims to boost the competitiveness of smallholders but also fosters better collaboration between companies and smallholders.
“We do hope the jurisdiction certification would be the effective model namely for the smallholders’ cooperation. The certification cost would be more affordable and the process would be more efficient,” he said.
He also mentioned some palm oil producer regencies in Indonesia started implemented the certification model. The regencies, the smallholders, and cooperation would be cooperating to implement it with every available standard.
In the long term, the jurisdiction certification would increase the smallholders’ welfare and reinforce their position in palm oil supply chain in the global level and would minimize the unemployment in palm oil plantation producer regions by increasing the access to many markets. (P2)
