InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA - Palm oil biodiesel program that the Government of Indonesia proposed, would be one of strategic solutions to realize energy sovereignty and reduce fossil fuel dependence. But to realize the vision, it needs to prioritize the smallholders to get involved. As the important actors in palm oil supply chain, they played significant roles and should not be put aside.
The independent smallholders’ palm oil plantations about 40 percent of the total palm oil plantations in Indonesia, made them as the significant part in biodiesel program. That is why the government should immediately regulate the partnership system to deliver advantages for many parties both the companies and the smallholders themselves so the sustainability vision that was proposed by President Joko Widodo at the time, would be realized.
“The independent smallholders are the significant pillar in palm oil supply chain. Without them, biodiesel program would be difficult to be optimized,” Chairman of Serikat Petani Kelapa Sawit (SPKS), Sabarudin said in a discussion about biodiesel sustainability with the theme “Mewujudkan Kemitraan Petani dan Industri Biodiesel dalam Pengembangan Biodiesel Sawit untuk Kesejahteraan Petani Sawit”, Thursday (24/10/2024) that InfoSAWIT attended in Jakarta.
He also said that biodiesel program that was launched in 2015 did not fully deliver the positive for the smallholders. Even though the early goal was about to welfare the smallholders by having partnership with the companies that process biodiesel, until now, the partnership did not realize equally.
“Biodiesel program has been running since 2015 but the partnership between the smallholders and biodiesel companies is beyond expectation. We did small research in Riau Province where biodiesel industries operated in five regencies. The fact showed the smallholders in the province did sell to the middlemen, not directly to the biodiesel companies,” Sabarudin said.
SPKS emphasized it would be significant to publish a regulation that would oblige biodiesel companies to get partnership with the smallholders namely around the companies’ concession areas. Sabarudin also mentioned that without the strong partnership program, biodiesel program would deliver profits for the big industries without positively delivering real impacts for the smallholders.
He also said that the smallholders’ plantation productivity is low in number still, about 12 tons of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) per hectare per year, less than what the companies generally produced that reached 25 tons FFB per hectares per year. He thought, SRP, access to get fertilizers and superior seeds should be the focuses for the new government to increase their plantation productivity.
In the future, SPKS would encourage that evaluation to B50 program should involve every stakeholder, particularly the smallholders. “We do hope the partnership between them and biodiesel companies would be realized. The impacts of the program would be got more by involving the smallholders intensively,” he said.
By improving the partnership scheme/program, increasing productivity, biodiesel program would increase not only energy sovereignty nationally but also increase the smallholders’ welfare that helped palm oil industries in Indonesia. (T2)
