InfoSAWIT, KAMPAR – Palm oil industry is one significant sector for the economy in Indonesia. But in the past years, big challenges are ahead in palm oil production in national scale. To solve the issues, Indonesian Palm Oil Association (IPOA) keeps encouraging to accelerate smallholders replanting program (SRP) through development partnership scheme with IPOA.
The first SRP kick-off was running in the plantations of Koperasi Berkat Ridho together with developed partners of PT Buana Wiralestari in District of Kampar Riau Province. This would be the first thing that becomes the commitment of IPOA to escalate palm oil plantation productivity and production in Indonesia.
Chairman of IPOA, Eddy Martono said that SRP particularly in partnership scheme becomes one main focus to do. It has two main goals, such as, to help smallholders in replanting the old, broken, and unproductive trees; and to escalate palm oil plantation productivity and production nationally.
Eddy also told that palm oil production was stagnant in the past five years nationally. Meanwhile the consumption kept increasing in the domestic. This needs to escalate the productivity from available plantations because it is not allowed to get new plantings anymore. That is why SRP in partnership scheme would be one solution and hoped to be accelerated.
“We got the data from our members that run plasma partnership. Though the realization would not be in this year, the target is about to get technical recommendation and the planting could be running next year,” Eddy said to InfoSAWIT.
SRP kick-off in partnership scheme that IPOA develops in District of Kampar would be the first thing to accelerate SRP, particularly for IPOA members.
Meanwhile General Director of Plantation Ministry of Agriculture, Andi Nur Alam Syah said that it is important to get partnership between big plantation companies and smallholders’ plantations to minimize the gaps, namely in realizing higher productivity and production in palm oil industries. It is not easy to escalate smallholders’ plantation productivity and production because they face many issues, including their interests, legal areas, institutional aspects, and non-optimal supports from the stakeholders.
Director of Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PFMA), Eddy Martono said that SRP has been running since 2016 and escalating plasma and independent smallholders’ plantation productivity. SRP targets decided by the government would lay about 500 thousand hectares per three years. This is something to face. But by having partnership scheme, it is hoped the target would be realized immediately. (T2)
