Jokowi Ordered to Accelerate Issuance of Land Certificate

President of Republic Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), ordered to accelerate the process of certifying smallholder farmers` oil palm plantation so that they can replant their plantation. Lately, replanting process is hampered because their land has not been certified yet. Due to the absence of land certificate, the process of fund disbursement by the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDPKS) is hampered. `I entrust the head of the sub-districts to help Badan Pertanahan Nasional (BPN) to fulfill the terms of this program. Last year we were targeting around 5 million certificates to be issued, (and for) this year, 7 million certificates across the country have to come out,` said President Jokowi when inaugurated the program of rejuvenation of oil palm plantation in Desa Pelita, Bagan Sinembah, Rokan Hilir, Riau (9/5/2018). The President considers the importance of land certificate. Beside for the term of disbursement of fund from BPDPKS, also to avoid land disputes that often happen. `Please mind the certificate. If you already have a certificate, you have a valid proof to the land that you have, so it will avoid the dispute,` said Jokowi. Land dispute is a case that commonly happens in Indonesia. This is why the government has implemented a policy to accelerate certification. According President Jokowi, the government is working hard to make it happen. It can be seen from the certificate that can be issued by BPN every year. BPN normally issued 500 thousand to 600 thousand certificates for a year. For 2018, President Jokowi asked BPN to issue 7 million certificates across Indonesia. `The target is 7 million certificates, 12 times more. I would like to thank all the BPN offices that I know sometimes they have to work at Saturday and Sunday, even at night they still work. But that`s okay. For people, we should work like that,` said Jokowi. Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of BPN Sofyan Djalil confirmed that the ownership of certificates would be very profitable for oil palm farmers. Since the certificate can also be pledged to the bank to get credit. `If there is a certificate, may be you will do the replanting because the certificate is valuable and can be used as collateral to get a bank loan,` said Sofyan.