As a Strategic Commodity, Palm Oil Industry Governance Continues to be Improved

Palm Oil (Photo: dock. intermediate)

JAKARTA – Deputy Minister of Finance (Wamenkeu) Suahasil Nazara said that palm oil is one of Indonesia's important commodities. Therefore, improving governance of the palm oil industry must continue to be carried out.

According to him, improving the palm oil industry can include improving plantation governance, including licensing and improving plantation data, as well as developing infrastructure, which will also support the mobility of palm oil products.

“As a serious plantation industry, (oil palm plantations) must have permits. "We hope that the management, whether managed by individual farming communities or managed by companies, (permits) will be managed in a good way," he said in a written statement on the agenda for the Kick Off Socialization and Technical Guidance of Palm Oil DBH, Monday, September 25.

Suahasil explained that the Central government is currently updating data on oil palm plantation land through the Plantation Licensing Information System (Siperibun) application which is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

For information, Siperibun aims to strengthen data-based and corruption-free management of plantation business permits, strengthen guidance and supervision of plantation business permits, as well as strengthen coordination between national ministries/institutions and regional governments in the plantation sector.

"When we start looking at this (data on Siperibun), we will connect again to the ladies and gentlemen in the regional government. Ladies and gentlemen, do you know these companies in their respective areas? I hope they are recognized. If you don't recognize it, please check it. "We at the central government will definitely check," he said.

Suahasil added that the central government is also paying attention to improving the management of the palm oil industry through BLU BPDPKS. The formation of the BPDPKS is an implementation of the mandate of the law, namely collecting funds from plantation business actors or better known as the CPO Supporting Fund (CSF) which will be used to support sustainable palm oil development programs.

“This oil palm BLU operates a lot in the area, ladies and gentlemen, especially carrying out replanting. Please, ladies and gentlemen, also watch and follow along. "Please convey your observations to us later on how BLU Sawit is working in your area and how, if necessary, it can be more powerful in helping in your area," he stressed.

"We continue to convey that we need to maintain our highways and we need to ensure that the palm oil industry also contributes to the improvement of highways throughout the region. "This is the last thing we designed so that when the palm oil profit sharing fund was proposed, the target was to improve infrastructure," concluded Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil.