Regular Oil Palm Course Participants Visit Sustainable Plantation

Participants of Regular Oil Palm Course 2018 from 11 countries visited smallholder-owned oil palm plantation in Jambi to get a valuable personal view of sustainable palm oil industry in Indonesia from farmers’ perspective. Plantation they visited on Sunday (25/11/2018), was a smallholder-owned plantation in Pulau Pauh Village, Renah Mendaluh sub-district, Tanjung Jabung Barat Regency, Province of Jambi. It was a plantation that is certified by the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which is managed by a group of smallholders called Forum Petani Swadaya Merlung Renah Mendaluh (FPS-MRM). Participants includes consultants, researchers, environment activists and academicians from countries such as Australia, the Netherlands, Czech, Hungary, Britain, Italy, France, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Spain. During the visit, they learned about plantation operations as well as the local culture. They also saw how people make a living from palm oil and learned how the plantation has contributed to economic benefits. They also exchanged experiences with smallholders about implementation of sustainable oil palm plantation. Earlier, they had a short lectures regarding policy, facts and discoveries, the palm oil business or organizational structure in general, as well as research and development for three days in Bogor, West Java. Regular Oil Palm Course 2018 was a short course program organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDPKS), Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), and University of Jambi. The program was held from to 26 November 2018. ***