Seeing the results
per year,” says Bonsilon, father of five.
Ten years ago, Bonsilon’s father couldn’t afford to send all his kids to school when he worked in the logging industry. Bonsilon was the first in his family to complete secondary education.
“Palm oil is our lifeline,” he surmises. “These ‘trees’ helped put my siblings through school and improved our standard of living.”
The road ahead
When the group received their RSPO certification, everyone was pleasantly surprised.
“I was shocked but, of course, I am proud,” says Sugumaran, smiling. “Even the managers at the mill where we send our crops were surprised that we did it.”
“It also means that the mills will not question the quality of our crops,” adds Pallai. “Smallholders here had a reputation for producing poor-quality crops.”
A positive outcome means outgrowers like Toniting Properties (small producers with land size between 50ha to 500ha) have expressed interest to join Wags and work towards certification, Bonsilon said.
In April 2014, the Toniting group received a cash bonus from the sales of GreenPalm certificates to Johnson&Johnson.
“Since we disbursed the funds, we have been getting calls from other farmers keen to join Wags,” Dean reveals. “Wags is committed to providing continuous support to these farmers. We want to empower and train them to be the agents for change.”
But Bonsilon still asks: “Our yields have increased and our farming practices have improved. But why is the price of our crops still the same as other smallholders?” This year, Wilmar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Wild Asia to provide support for Wags members, including a financial incentive for their certified crops.
As for Sugumaran, he harbours a bigger ambition: “I hope to qualify for MPOB’s 30 Tonnes Club…that’s my dream!” (The Club awards farmers with yields of 30 tonnes per hectare per year. Members enjoy benefits like subsidised workshops and first priority for technical advice from MPOB officers).