PALMOILMAGAZINE, PALANGKARAYA – To foster sustainable and competitive palm oil plantations, adherence to regulations and policies such as business rights and the facilitation of community plantation development (FPKM) is essential.
According to Law Number 39/2014 on Plantations, companies holding plantation business permits (PBP) must allocate 20% of their plantation area for community plantation development.
Currently, Central Kalimantan hosts 191 palm oil plantation units covering approximately 2.2 million hectares. Of these, 128 large private companies have met or exceeded the FPKM requirement, covering about 220.6 thousand hectares or 24%. However, 72 large private companies are still in the process of fulfilling their obligations, particularly in Seruyan Regency, Kotawaringin Timur, and Kotawaringin Barat.
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These companies are actively engaged in productive plantation activities (KUPP), such as integrated palm oil-cow programs, poultry farming, and other partnership initiatives for undeveloped areas.
Governor of Central Kalimantan Province, H. Sugianto Sabran said that FPKM faces issues in the implementation, such as, not every big private company realized 20% condition of their areas, it was difficult to get forest release from the available areas around big plantations where they operate out of permitted areas, and overlapping policies, particularly in the allocation to areas for developing the people’s plantations.
Some things had and would be doing to solve such issues, for instance, proposing to revise Central Kalimantan Regulation Number 5 / 2015 about Central Kalimantan Spatial which did not refer to the Regulation of Minister of Forestry Number 529 / 2012; and proposing allocation in other utilization areas that would lay on 46 percent and forest regions 54 percent to develop people’s plantations in other utilization areas.
“Besides, every big plantation in Central Kalimantan should realize develop the people’s plantations or plasma, particularly for the companies that were established/operating before n 2007,” Sugianto said when delivering his speech in the 7th Borneo Forum as Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from the official page of Central Kalimantan Province, Saturday (29/6/2024).
Every plantation that got or did not get business rights before the year, should conduct kegiatan usaha produktif perkebunan (KUPP) within calculation pattern – nilai optimum produksi (NOP) just like it is regulated in the Circulars of General Director of Plantation Number B-347 / 2023 and Decision of General Director of Plantation Number 152 / 2023.
In specific, he also urged heads of plantation agencies in the province, regencies/cities to supervise NOP as the solution on FPKM obligation because of unavailable areas. It also needs to develop and monitor every plantation that is in process to develop (people’s plantations) based on their permits.
The governor asked for the central government’s supports about regulations to get synergy among the ministries/institution, namely about the regulation in area availability to develop the people’s plantations. This is about not to get misunderstanding and miscommunication. Besides, to support the smalllholders in the province, Central Kalimantan would seriously publish cultivation documents with the fund support from palm oil profit sharing for the people so that there would be no legal issues in the society.
“The other strategic issue that Central Kalimantan Province noticed would be about to escalate health and education service in the surroundings equally, such as, by constructing hospitals and universities,” Sabran said. (P2)
