Palm oil industry in Indonesia is often
viewed in negative light, but not all stories are bad from this industry.
Amanah, a palm farmer association, is the first smallholders group that gained
the sustainability certificate in Indonesia. This group has accepted support
from Sukanto Tanoto, owner of Asian
Agri, as well as environmental organization such as WWF to gain the
certification in year 2013. This is a great achievement in the world of palm
oil plantation and industry in Indonesia.
Asian Agri Roles in Amanah Sustainability Certification
Amanah is an oil palm independent smallholder
association based in Pelalawan area in Riau Province, which is also among the
biggest locations for oil palm plantations in Indonesia. This smallholder
association now houses as many as 350 small, independent farmers, with total
plantation area of 765 hectares. This association is independent, which means
the farmers in it have no association at all with palm oil industry companies,
but Asian Agri has big roles in helping and supporting the association to earn
the certificate.
The certificate itself is official, based on
Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil scheme, in which the association would not
be able to earn the certificate unless the farmers in it actually practice high
quality and proper methods in planting and cultivating oil palms in their
plantations. According to Sunarno, the head of the association who also
received the certificate from Vice Minister, the farmers spent about 1.5 years
before they were able to get the certificate. 4 months were spent for educating
the farmers, and 1 year for going through audit process, while implementing the
principles of sustainable farming.
Amanah got a lot of help especially from
Asian Agri, Sukanto Tanoto’s palm oil company. The company was responsible in
helping the farmers to get the right guidance of sustainable farming methods,
so they can keep implementing the methods in the future.
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