PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – The Ministry of Agriculture, through the Directorate General of Plantations, reinforced its commitment to enhancing smallholder plantation productivity and sustainability to improve the welfare of smallholders.
During the National Coordination Meeting of the Agricultural Development Institute of Nahdlatul Ulama (LPP-PBNU) and the launch of the “Sawit Goes to Pesantren” initiative, various stakeholders gathered to discuss the contribution of plantations, particularly palm oil, in strengthening the national economy.
Heru Tri Widarto, Director General of Plantations, commended PBNU and LPP-PBNU for encouraging community participation in the agricultural sector. He emphasized that sustainability in the plantation sector is crucial for the economy, especially amidst global uncertainties.
Also Read : Smallholder Should Have Self-Confidence in Replanting Program
“Indonesia’s economy is significantly supported by plantation commodities, which contribute nearly 90% of non-oil and gas exports, with palm oil as a leading commodity. In 2023, exports reached $33 billion, and by June 2024, they totaled $14.89 billion,” Heru said, according to an official statement quoted by Palmoilmagazine.com on Tuesday (29/10/2024).
Even though palm oil kept showing the big potential, Heru thought, there would be challenges to increase the smallholders’ plantation productivity that reached 3 tons of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per hectare per year. It was not ideal. General Directorate of Plantation would do the best to solve it by having collaboration with many parties, including LPP-PBNU. The government has implemented smallholders replanting program, trainings to escalate the smallholders’ technical skills to realize the optimal plantation productivity.
He hoped the people and LPP-PBNU would be in cooperation to solve the challenges in smallholders’ plantations. “Food and energy independency would be the main and significant aspects to welfare the people. By having the collaboration, we would like to encourage the people to actively play their roles to optimize theirs,” he said.
In the meeting, “Sawit Goes to Pesantren” was officially launched. It would prioritize the roles of ‘pesantren’ or boarding schools as the centers to get economic empowerment in palm oil – base. By the initiative, the boarding schools should be the places to develop the smallholders’ capacity, deliver education for the students and the people about the economic chances from palm oil sectors.
Heru also emphasized it would be significant to get the concrete output from the coordination meeting to develop sustainable palm oil sectors in Indonesia by hoping that the discussion and collaboration among the government, the civil organizations, and the people themselves (smallholders) would escalate the plantation productivity and expand food and energy materials.
By the strategies, Ministry of Agriculture hoped smallholders’ palm oil plantations would escalate the people’s welfare massively and reinforce food and energy security nationally. (P2)
