InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA - There were 33 smallholders’ groups there in the form of koperasi unit desa (KUD), gapoktan, association, Village Enterprises (BUMDes), and the forum of smallholders, which derived from North Sumatera, Jambi, Riau, South Sumatera, Pangkalan Bun, Katingan, Seruyan, Sintang, and Kongbeng, Kutai Timur. They are committed to transform sustainable palm oil within the scheme Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) in Indonesia.

The implementations of the sustainable standard schemes are to reduce and limit the environmental damages, and reduce the danger from climate change.

“We, consist of 33 groups of smallholders in Indonesia reaching about 6.717 smallholders and about 16.683 hectares of palm oil plantation confirmed that there is no hotspot of fire in ours. This is our real commitment to implement the best practice in ours,” the chairman of FORTASBI (Forum Petani Kalapa Sawit Berkelanjutan Indonesia), H. Narno recently said in the official statement to InfoSAWIT.

He also mentioned that the sustainable palm oil certification urged some independent smallholders’ groups to protect the important regions in many regions. “They protect the river and high conservation values,” he said in his presentation.

Sustainable palm oil certification is one solution that the independent smallholders could use in Indonesia when the campaign attacks by saying the smallholders are the burners, and the independent smallholders are the forest damagers.

The smallholders should show that the accusation is the big mistake. The independent ones are those who have chance to be the shield that could fight for the climate change by implementing the best practices when cultivating palm oil and environment.(T2)

For more, please read InfoSAWIT, October 2019