Facing European Union Policy, RI Must Have Data On Palm Oil Products To Increase Competitiveness

Illustration (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The European Union will soon implement an anti-deforestation or European Unioin anti-Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) policy on plantation products, including palm oil.

Indonesia inevitably has to face these challenges. So, tracing data from palm oil products is important for Indonesia to improve competitiveness.

As is known, the Indonesian palm oil industry has become a mainstay of national exports and continues to be accelerated by the government to help support economic growth.

In fact, Indonesia is one of the contributors to these products to various countries, including countries in the European Union.

Expert Staff for Connectivity, Services Development, and Natural Resources of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Musdhalifah Machmud said, the EUDR policy is the closest challenge to Indonesian plantation products.

"We are facing the main thing now is the EUDR, which EUDR inevitably wants it to be a regulation that brings up us no longer can be avoided," said Musdhalifah at the Workshop at Graha Surveyor Indonesia, quoted from an official statement, Monday, June 24.

Therefore, Mushdalifah emphasized that palm oil products, cocoa and coffee products need to be properly recorded. According to him, this is one of the conditions that needs to be met so that Indonesian plantation products can still be exported to the global market.

"Data collection is the standard to recognize that the products we produce in Indonesia, have gone through an administrative process, meeting global requirements as a sustainable commodity," he said.

"I want to use the deadline, I want to use the type of seeds used, what kind of supply chain, what kind of mixing, this is all through governance, which hopefully we can accommodate all of this National Dashboard," he continued.

Data collection through the system developed by PT Surveyor Indonesia, continued Mushdalifah, is an important part. Although, he said, the government also protested regarding the EUDR policy.

"We continue to convey our complaints, oh it's not fair but we are still moving forward to meet all the requirements. It's a matter of whether or not we admit that it is one of the ways to tidy up the administrative governance of commodities circulating in the global market," he explained.

Global Policy Challenges

Meanwhile, the President Director of PT Surveyor Indonesia, Sandry Pasambuna, emphasized that plantation data in Indonesia is very important.

Moreover, there are various global policies that regulate products that are closely related to deforestation.

Sandry said that apart from the EUDR, there was also a policy issued by the United States Government, namely the US Forest Act.

This policy regulates the risk of deforestation of products entering the US.

This includes a similar policy implemented by the British Government, namely UK Digigent Requirements.

"This will make it difficult for our exports to come out. Therefore, the presence of national dashboards is important, to maintain foreign exchange of food commodity exports and agribusiness so that this will make it easier for exports outside," Sandry said.

Sandry said this National Dashborad is needed for comprehensive and synchronized data collection.

That way, he said, it is hoped that it can be used for decision making in order to increase the competitiveness of Indonesian products according to global market demand.

"PT Surveyor Indonesia is currently receiving direction and responsibility by the national dashboard briefing committee to prepare to develop a trial of the national dashboard system. The PTSI team has done this, we have worked together, followed by approximately 11 companies and cooperatives, namely to record four commodities, palm oil, coffee, cocoa and rubber," he explained.

For your information, referring to the Decree of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Number 178 concerning the Steering Committee for the National Data and Information Dasbor for the Sustainable Commodity of Indonesia, PT Surveyor Indonesia was appointed as part of the National Dasbor Technical Committee responsible for the development of a sustainable plantation commodity supply chain tracing system.

As a follow-up to the national dashboard trial, PT Surveyor Indonesia and the Ministry of Agriculture also held a workshop for the function of the National Dasbor platform.