English
Indonesia
SPKS or the Indonesian Oil Palm Smallholders published the book titled “Market Transformation by the Oil Palm Smallholders” to focus on an alternative plantation management in relation to oil palm replanting. This is very big concern to the majority of SPKS members, as the umbrella of replanting procedure, which is the Minister of Agriculture’s regulation no. 33/2006 on the revitalization of the plantation, hardly leaves a room to remain independent and innovative under the centralized plantation management or one-roof management. Meanwhile, independent replanting requires large capital investment which the smallholders do not possess. Yet, smallholders’ access to financial institutions is still very limited, whilst not many alternative funding agencies exist around them.
In fact, the Oil Palm Smallholders today are part of progressive and forward-thinking generation, who are likely to take challenges in the development of Good Agriculture Practices in a broad sense. SPKS smallholders now have been thinking of market transformation, where oil palm growers and consumers shared the responsibility to create and maintain equilibrium of the People, Planet, and Profit (3Ps) of the oil palm production and distribution. An alternative arrangement for oil palm business that is unconventional, innovative, and inventive is here described by SPKS as Market Transformation by the Oil Palm Smallholders.
This book provides concrete fresh, experience-based ideas and strategies the oil palm stakeholders can use to answer the concerns on sustainable palm oil production and distribution. The book is designed for plantation companies and smallholders, cooperatives and banks, administrators and market players, and all who are interested in working within the real Sustainable Palm Oil principle. The ideas in this book provide suggestions that will help in this broad range of market transformation.
Chapter 1 “Questioning Oil Palm Benefits to Smallholders” analyzes how the impacts of oil palm plantation to the smallholders are. The chapter argues with the challenging road to sustainability practices in the palm oil business and assesses the former partnership arrangements between planta?on companies and the smallholders, as well as the gaps and troubles letibehind. Chapter 2 “The Prosperity of Oil Palm Smallholders vis á vis the Popularity of Palm Oil Worldwide” provides an overview of the fieldwork.
The chapter deals with the productivity of oil palm plantation in Indonesia, including the palm oil production cost and qualification of the yields, such as sortation, “K” index requirement, and procedure of credit setilement. This chapter presents some data from SPKS regional offices to give the readers complementary inputs on what happens on the ground.
Chapter 3 “Smallholders-based Revitalization of Oil Palm: Key Challenges & Opportunity” delivers an introduction to the Alternative Replan ting Scheme for Smallholders – SPKS breakthrough to the government’s regulation on the Revitalization of Plantation. This chapter puts the government’s concept and SPKS idea side by side on how to best revitalize the smallholders’ palm oil plantation.
Chapter 4 “Promoting Independent Smallholders – An Alternative to Indonesian Oil Palm Business” intensifies SPKS concept of unconven tional, innovative, and inventive business arrangement, which will bridge the smallholders to the Sustainability Market. In this chapter SPKS is promoting participatory schemes of oil palm business, where smallholders are protected and empowered to play more active role in the palm oil trade.
We hope that this book will provide a resource to advocate for the best possible alternative and sustainability practices for palm oil business and commodity market. Our goal is that the ideas in this book will help support smallholders’ protection and empowerment as mandated by the law no. 19/2013, while also nurturing the sense of innova tion and independence of the smallholders towards sustainable business entity.
