Fund is not the Issue to Support Oil Palm Farmers

THE Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDPKS) reiterated its view that problems faced by oil palm smallholder farmers are not about the supporting funds and regulations.

Fund is not the Issue to Support Oil Palm Farmers
THE Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDPKS) reiterated its view that problems faced by oil palm smallholder farmers are not about the supporting funds and regulations. The obstacles that prevent farmers to implement government support and policy are merely on farmers side. President Director of the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDPKS) Dono Boestami revealed that BPDPKS is managing about Rp14 trillion fund collected from crude palm oil (CPO) export. The fund is more than enough to support oil palm smallholders farmers as well as to support replanting program,  research, human development, etc. For example, in supporting replanting program, BPDPKS provides grant of Rp25 million per hectare to smallholders farmers. However, the fund is difficult to disburse since the status of land owned by the farmers is not clear. In fact, one of the requirement to receive grant is that the land is legally certified. “Funds availability is not the issue.  In fact, the opportunity to access the fund is wide open as long as the farmers is ready. Many farmers are so difficult to verified and identified that they can not accept the fund,” Dono said. Dono’s statement came in Executive Brief organized by The Regional Representative Council (DPD) and attended by representatives from Agriculture Ministry, PTPN VII, Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), and Indonesia Planters Society (IPS) at Gedung Nusantara V (25/9/2018). Vice Speaker of DPD Darmayanti Lubis acknowledged that there are some issues concerning oil palm farmers to this day, from low productivity to prices fluctuations. “Oil palm farmers are difficult to do things since many of them put their land certificates in pawn. How could they possibly run their plantation well?” she said. ***