PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, is steadfastly committed to adopting sustainable practices across its palm oil plantations. Despite the implementation of various regulations, such as the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the uptake of certificates, particularly among smallholders, falls short of expectations.
The data reveals that only a few smallholder groups or unions have obtained ISPO certificates, which is concerning given that smallholders own approximately 41% of palm oil plantations in Indonesia, totaling about 16.38 million hectares. Their adoption of sustainable practices and participation are crucial for achieving sustainability goals.
The Forum Petani Kelapa Sawit Berkelanjutan Indonesia (Fortasbi), an organization representing smallholders with ISPO and RSPO certificates, highlights that seven provinces, including North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan, are focusing on attaining sustainable certifications. However, only 0.2% of smallholders’ plantations have obtained sustainable palm oil certificates.
Also Read: 5 Palm Oil Smallholder Cooperation Obtain ISPO and RSPO Certificates
According to RSPO, the utilization of sustainable palm oil in Indonesia remains low, accounting for approximately 2% or 200 to 300 thousand tons of total production. Most sustainable palm oil is exported, with only 2% available for domestic consumption. Currently, only one palm cooking oil brand, Super Indo produced by Wahana Citra, has obtained RSPO certification and is sold in Indonesia. RSPO encourages other brands to follow suit in supporting clean and sustainable energy initiatives.
To solve the challenge, an initiative was proposed to get jurisdictional program (JP) implementation. Many now does JP research, for instance, FKMS, UPR, and Jikalahari. The three would be supported by Walmart Foundation. The main goal of the research is about to escalate the preparedness of four palm oil producer regencies, they are, Pelalawan, Sintang, Pulang Pisau, and Kutai Kertanegara to get JP implementation.
The research would focus on gender inclusivity, multi-stakeholder, and participative approaches by prioritizing the four regencies to create the same responsive basic of knowledge locally. It is significant to involve many parties and the research would focus to develop basic knowledge which is adjustable with every regency’s needs and characteristics.
Co-design process that becomes the basic of the same research, also involves local stakeholders to develop theory of change, theory of action, and monitoring evaluation framework (TTM). These would be about to confirm that JP implementation in regency and national scale would get every result wanted. To know further, dear readers should read in Focus in January 2024.
In the edition, we would also discuss some other interesting issues, such as, Binoculars that would discuss about palm oil partnership is not only main – plasma in cultivation only because the smallholders in Village of Wonorejo, Sub district of Satui, Regency of Tanah Bumbu, South Kalimantan Province develop cow breeding (partnership).
