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Sawit Terampil Program: A Space for Smallholder Oil Palm Farmers to Develop
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A farmer group joins a Sawit Terampil training program.
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group of farmers sits in a ring under the shade of palm trees. One of them, Wiyono, listens attentively to an instructor’s explanation. Despite farming for 30 years, he remains passionate about seeking knowledge.
Wiyono, along with hundreds of other farmers, joined in the Tani Perangin-angin Grup (PAG), which cultivates palm trees in Multi Makmur Village, Subulussalam City, Aceh. The PAG farmer group is one of a number of groups assisted by Sawit Terampil, a program that is scaling up the skills of more than 4,000 smallholder farmers in the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh and North Sumatra.
Sawit Terampil program has been designed by Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food and its partners to provide comprehensive support to smallholder farmers through group and individual training. Through training and assistance programs, the farmers are expected to improve their understanding agronomy, enabling them to improve their yields and sustainable practices.
According to Wiyono, following his participation in the series of Sawit Terampil programs, his yields have increased. “Alhamdulillah [thank God], there is an improvement in the yield. Thanks to the assistance given by the instructor, my yield, which previously only stood at around 800 – 900 kg per 20 days, has increased to 1,200 – 1,300 kg,” said Wiyono.
Sumiono, another participant, was also enthusiastic about joining the Sawit Terampil group, which served as a forum for farmers to share knowledge. “We have gained a lot of knowledge. Previously, we erased grass, used fertilizer and composed midribs incorrectly. We sprayed [the insecticide] on the brushwood with high doses,” he said.
Head of supply chain transformation at Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food Fauzan Kurniawan said that Sawit Terampil was part of the commitment the company and its partners had made to accelerate smallholder farmers' development.
“We have designed the program to support and assist the farmers, especially those who have yet to receive assistance programs and education focusing on good plantation management,” he said.
The Sawit Terampil initiative also aims to help the farmers prepare to meet requirements for the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification, the mandatory government certification, as well as Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification, a global standard for sustainable palm oil plantations.
Currently, Wiyono, Sumino and other farmers taking part from the PAG farmers group are preparing to earn RSPO certification. They have to go through several steps, starting from implementation activities such as socialization and training, followed by establishing a certification unit to manage administrative matters, and preparation for internal and external audits to verify their application.
As much as 41 percent of Indonesia’s plantation area is managed by smallholder farmers. They play a pivotal role and to make sustainable supply chains, smallholders have to adopt sustainable agricultural practices.
Sawit Terampil was started in 2020 by Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food in collaboration with MARS and Fuji Oil. The program aims to provide training and resources for smallholder farmers to adopt good practices and in this way, they are expected to boost productivity and increase their livelihoods.
Through the Sawit Terampil initiative, Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food aims to train 10,000 smallholder farmers in Subulussalam and Singkil Aceh, Langkat North Sumatra, Riau and West Kalimantan by 2025.
This article was published in collaboration with Sinarmas Agri.
