RSPO pushing for certification of smallholders in Malaysia and Indonesia

EARLY this month, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) said in a statement that Indonesia had overtaken Malaysia as the world’s largest certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) producer.

This development has taken many by surprise especially if one were to recall the decision by GAPKI, the Indonesian oil palm growers association, in October last year to quit the RSPO, a multi-stakeholder organisation which provide certification scheme for sustainable palm oil production.

Some quarters had expected much lower CSPO production from Indonesia this year, after the pullout by GAPKI which represents over 500 plantation companies. GAPKI had even said that its members wanted to fully commit to the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) scheme – a sustainability platform made mandatory to all plantation companies in the republic.

Interestingly, the contributor to Indonesia becoming the world’s largest CSPO producer now is Riaubased PT Inti Indosawit Subur, which in turn is the largest producer from schemed smallholders, recording over 54,000 tonnes of CSPO.

Given this latest development, some industry players opined that the RSPO is now changing its tactic to push hard for the certification of smallholders’ estates and production either in Indonesia, Malaysia or even the new oil palm growing areas in Thailand, Africa and South America.

This is after its failed attempt to impress several established palm oil producers from GAPKI and the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) following the slow takeup rate of CSPO by major Western consuming nations.

GAPKI’S peer the MPOA often expressed disappointment over the slow CSPO takeup rate and at one point seek a moratorium to stop Malaysian planters from pursuing their ongoing certification in the RSPO certification of sustainable palm oil.

On the other hand, Malaysia’s Felda Group, which is the world’s first smallholder organisation to attain the RSPO, is striving to get all its 70 palm oil mills nationwide Rspo-certified by 2016. This ambitious target will involve at least 10 mills a year.

Currently, two of the world’s largest CPO producers, Malaysia and Indonesia, are highly dependent on smallholders to contribute to the respective countries’ total annual CPO production.

Smallholders in Malaysia contributed about 52% of the total annual CPO production while smallholders in Indonesia contributed about 38% of the republic’s total CPO production.

For RSPO, it is now highly critical to include smallholders in the transformation towards sustainability. Basically, getting smallholders to become involved with the RSPO certification is not a bad thing by making them aware of the advantages such as access to international market for CSPO, long-term efficiencies in terms of yield and productivity and effective cost management.

Currently, RSPO is producing slightly over six million tonnes of CSPO in less than four years since its certification exercise began.

Its secretary-general Darrel Webber had said that the 20% growth rate achieved within just half a year, in terms of both CSPO production area (1.22 million ha to date) and annual production capacity of 6.017 million tonnes to date, is unparalleled for a sustainable commodity.