Indonesia and The Netherlands Form Partnership on Sustainable Palm Oil

INDONESIA and the Netherlands have entered into a memorandum of understanding on joint production on sustainable palm oil, enabling smallholder farmers to improve their capacity on sustainable farming.

The MoU was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister, Retno Marsudi and Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade & Cooperation Development Sigrid Kaag on sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Thursday (26/9/2019). “I have met the Dutch counterpart to sign MoU on joint production on sustainable palm oil,” Retno said in New York.

The MoU will allow smallholder farmers to produce sustainable palm oil. “We empower smallholder farmers that will enable them to produce sustainable palm oil,” she said as quoted by Detikcom.

The partnership is aimed to provide capacity-building support, particularly to help farmers to obtain Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification. The partnership is also to support farmers to improve sustainable palm oil productivity and contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Indonesia.

As a top importer palm oil in European Union, The Netherlands welcomes the MoU and appreciates Indonesia’s commitment to increase sustainable palm oil production. The Netherlands recognizes economic value of palm oil and its contribution to improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers in Indonesia. *** (Source: Kemlu/Detikcom)