InfoSAWIT, LABUHANBATU – Regency of Labuhanbatu Utara, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and Masyarakat Agroforestri Indonesia (MAFI) did cooperation to support sustainable palm oil development there through Sustainable Farming in Tropical Asian Landscapes (SFITAL).
One main focus in the program would be about to escalate planters’ capability and capacity. It would be about to escalate their knowledge and skills. The councelors should have the same to implement the cultivation standards as good agricultural practices in national level that is regulated in Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO).
The concrete thing to support the program is regulated by the Decision of Labuhanbatu Utara Regent Number: 500.8/617/DIPERTA/RAD-KSB/IX/2023, that decided 7 project villages. The decision was supported by the Decision of Head of Agriculture Agency Regency of Labuhanbatu Utara Number: 500.8/1618/DIPERTA/2023, that decided teams to develop 7 project villages.
As InfoSAWIT quoted from the official page of Regency of Labuhanbatu Utara, , to follow up training of trainers (ToT) in the second phase, there were trainings for 7 agricultural counselors in the regency on 29-31 January 2024. It was followed up by the visit on 5 February 2024 to PT ASD Bakri, Regency of Asahan. The theme of the learning visit was "Bahan Tanam Kelapa Sawit Unggul Bersertifikat."
The learning visit was about that the trained counselors would deliver understanding for smallholders about selecting palm oil seed materials which are certified and understand how to select mother trees, pollination process to get certified sprouts and have permits to be sold.
These should be their materials to make business opportunity for planters’ organizations in the regency. These concrete things that the regency did in cooperation with its partners both locally and internationally should positively deliver impacts to encourage sustainable palm oil practices based on the standards in national scale. Everything is about to create environmental and high competitive palm oil industries in the regency. (T2)
