InfoSAWIT, SEMARANG – City of Semarang would be the witness of a significant event. Hundreds of students from 15 different universities attended a show with the theme GenSawit on Thursday, 13 June 2024 conducted by Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (PFMA). The goal was about to deliver objective facts about the roles of palm oil for Indonesia.

Generation Z is always negatively informed in social media including about palm oil. The event was the platform of important education to solve misinformation which had no facts.

Director of Plan and Fund Management PFMA, Kabul Wijayanto said that the event was about to objectively deliver understanding for the students about the goodness of palm oil. “We have to tell the goodness of palm oil because it always happens that misinformation is delivered with no scientific facts,” he said, as in the official statement to InfoSAWIT, Wednesday (19/6/2024).

In the event, many expert speakers attended, such as, Head of Corporate Division PFMA, Achmad Maulizal Sutawijaya; Prof. Sri Raharjo of Faculty to Agriculture Engineering UGM also participated. They informed that it would be significant to know palm oil objectively and do not think about negative stigma that was or would be informed from the foreigners.

One influencer, Amanda Caesa did attend it to support the positive information about palm oil through social media. She thought, the young generations should support palm oil industries.

Chairman in Positive Campaign Division Indonesian Palm Oil Association, Edi Suhardi said that palm oil negative campaigns always generalize small things with no scientific base. “We have to objectively see that palm oil delivers big advantages including for the health,” Edi said.

With multi-party support, such as, the governments, companies, smallholders, and non-government organizations, it is hoped palm oil industries would always positively collaborate to sustainable development in Indonesia. The event reflected the commitment to support young generations to understand and take advantages on palm oil well and solve the challenges in these sectors.

Director of AKPY-STIPER, who is also the Chairman of ALPENSI, Sri Gunawan, said that palm oil industries supported 3 pillars, such as, people, planter, profits. But as the agrarian country, the irony is that there no commodity from Indonesia that has won the trade in other country except palm oil.

“This generation would play significant roles to the sustainability of palm oil plantations in Indonesia. The cooperation among the students, smallholders, the companies, the governments and organizations to maintain environmental conservation and sustainable palm oil industries would be significant and needed,” Sri said.

But, the 2024 GenSawit in the City of Semarang should not be educational event only but also be the moment to develop better understanding about palm oil vital roles in national and global scale. (T2)