InfoSAWIT, PELALAWAN – District of Pelalawan, Riau, Serikat Petani kelapa Sawit (SPKS)or Palm Oil Smallholders Union (POSU) and Forum Pengembangan Pembaharuan Desa(FPPD)made the Same Village Enterprises for two days in the district. It was joined by 4 villages, they were, village of Kiap Jaya, Village of Muda Setia, Village of Simpang Beringin, andVillage of Lubuk Ogung. They are in Sub district of Bandar Seikijang, District of Pelalawan, Riau Province.
“It is the training to inform that the Same Village Enterprices is important as the economic institution in the village that has been mandated in the Village Laws, and other economic institution that could directly contribute to the village and to empower the people’s economy,” researcher of FPPD, Syahrul said in the official statement that InfoSAWIT recently got.
He also said, the Same Village Enterprises training is the continuity of the same thing in 2016. SPKS and FFPD explained that there were some factors, why palm oil plantation did not directly contribute to the quality of the villagers.
The first, palm oil plantation is not integrated in the management of the village, the big scale palm oil plantation has no direct connection with the management of the village so its development only has something to do with those who cultivate it.
The second, palm oil raises new culture and habits that make the people depend on it. So the fulfillment of life that was from multi-culture system now turns to be mono-culture system and it depends on the cost of production for the mono-culture system should use high input pattern, especially for the basic to the tertiary needs. The third, there has been gap because of the global palm oil trade change and the orientation of palm oil plantation in Indonesia. This makes the smallholders have less bergaining position for the markets demand on the quality of production and this becomes the burden for the independent smallholders for their production would only fulfill their families’ needs.
He also mentioned, to get the solution from the problems, SPKS and FPPD recommended to make sustainable palm oil village. The idea could be realized by integrating the palm oil activity in the management of the village. The idea is the same spirit with the Village Laws namely to increase the welfare of the villagers. Through the program, FPPD and SPKS wanted to follow up the recommendation by making the Same Village Enterprises in the district of Pelalawan.
Chairman of SPKS, Mansuetus Darto said, the initiative of Same Village Enterprises is good enough to solve the disconnection of relation between the village and the plantation. Besides the Same Village Enterprises would be the right option to consolidate the potential and the assets of some villages and also the good business in palm oil sector because the Same Village Enterprises would consolidate the assets to do business in the scale of appropriate business and could influence to the villages and the villagers.
He also said, the Same Village Enterprices is important to understand that it is to empower and consolidate the villagers in the context of independent smallholders to make union, and to struggle for their interest in palm oil sector. The Same Village Enterprises would be the way to realize the production infrastructure independently to guarante the transformation in palm oil plantation, for example, from selling the raw material to be the half – produced producer, in the future.
“We do hope, the training could make the same commitment to start the process of making the Same Village Enterprises as the action plan,” he said.(T2)
