InfoSAWIT, SURABAYA – Palm oil research and development program is one way of Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PFMA) is doing to reinforce, develop, escalate, empower palm oil plantations and industries that would be in synergy from upstream to downstream sectors. The program started from the students of Indonesia to have will in researching palm oil to realize sustainable and tough palm oil industries in national scale.

Director of PFMA, Eddy Abdurrachman said that research and development program by PFMA in the form of fund support, is running through some mechanism. The first, Grant Riset Sawit which consists of selection and initiative will; the second, palm oil research competition in student level.

“Grant Riset Sawit is the program to escalate research and development in sustainable and environmental palm oil by paying attention to some aspects, such as, productivity enhancement/efficiency, sustainability aspect enhancement, encouraging product creation/new markets, and escalating smallholders’ welfare,” he said when delivering his speech in Pekan Riset Sawit Indonesia (PERISAI) 2023, that InfoSAWIT attended in Surabaya.

He also told, Grant Riset Sawit has been running since 2015. PFMA funded 329 cooperation contracts with 88 research and development institutions and also involving 1202 researchers in 19 provinces.

In the commercialization process, PFMA is in cooperation with Asosiasi Inventor Indonesia (AII) to conduct technology preparedness valuation for commercialization to new inventions that PFMA funded (Grant Riset Sawit).

“There have been 30 inventions from Grant Riset Sawit which are ready to be in commerce. Some investors wanted to use the inventions by having commitment in the form of letter of intent (LoI) and/or in the form of non-disclosure agreement (NDA),” Eddy said. (T2)