JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko encourages the empowerment of oil palm farmers to become the main players in the supply chain of crude palm oil (CPO) commodities in Indonesia for the production of cooking oil and biodiesel.
“Oil palm farmers should not only plant, wait for the harvest and sell it. It is time to be the main actor and be involved in the CPO supply chain," said Moeldoko when receiving representatives of independent oil palm farmers at the Bina Graha Building, Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Friday, April 22.
Moeldoko said independent oil palm smallholders must develop by continuously increasing their production capabilities. That way, independent smallholders are able to produce quality raw materials for cooking oil and biodiesel.
He also encouraged independent smallholders to form a corporation or business entity in order to have a large business scale and selling value in the palm oil processing industry.
"According to the direction of the President, farmers must have five things, namely, group, cooperate, build a corporation, have post-harvest business facilities, and understand marketing. This is important so that farmers don't just get 'tired' and 'tired',” he said.
Meanwhile, representatives of independent smallholders, Rukaiyah Rafik, said that currently two independent smallholder cooperatives in Central Kalimantan and Jambi have started to initiate CPO factories and will develop into cooking oil factories.
"This requires support from all parties so that the process is faster and gets funding support from the infrastructure program of the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS)," said Rukaiyah.
Rukaiyah explained that independent oil palm smallholders have played an important role in ensuring the supply of CPO for Indonesia's needs. By managing 6.7 hectares of the total area of oil palm plantations which reaches 16 million hectares, he said, independent oil palm smallholders have contributed 41 percent to the receipt of export levies. independent oil palm farmers.
"We ask the Presidential Staff Office to facilitate us to be involved in BPDPKS," said Rukaiyah.
According to Rukaiyah, with the presence of independent smallholder oil palm representatives at BPDPKS, financial support will be available to improve the quality of human resources through training and development of oil palm plantation infrastructure managed by independent smallholders.
"With the support of BPDPKS funds, we can carry out institutional improvements, data collection, ISPO certification, PSR support (people's palm oil rejuvenation), and infrastructure for smallholders, especially independent oil palm farmers," said Rukaiyah.
"We also hope to be involved in a partnership program for biodiesel production," he added.
For information, independent oil palm smallholders are currently members of the Indonesian Sustainable Oil Palm Farmers Forum (Fortasbi) and the Oil Palm Farmers Union (SPKS).
Until now, according to KSP, there are already 25 thousand farmers who take shelter in the organization. As many as 10 thousand of these farmers have received the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certificate. The other 15 thousand still need support in the form of assistance to be able to apply the principles of sustainable palm oil governance.
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