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View all search resultsOil palm farmers’ woes over land, replanting overshadow EU trade deal
Representing 40 percent of total plantation area, their challenges could limit the country’s ability to seize the export opportunities offered by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA).
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Green harvest: A farmer gathers fresh fruit bunches on May 23, 2022, at a plantation in Kuta Makmur, Aceh. (AFP/Azwar Ipank)
D
espite Tuesday’s signing of the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA), smallholder oil palm farmers say they are still struggling to meet strict environmental standards, citing a lack of land certification and replanting support.
Representing 40 percent of total plantation area, their challenges could limit the country’s ability to seize the export opportunities offered by the new deal.
Ridwan Max Sijabat, an independent farmer cultivating oil palm in Jambi and Riau, pointed to persistent problems with land disputes, where unclear regulations and overlapping authority between central and regional governments often leave smallholders vulnerable.
“Big companies go beyond their permits and nothing happens. But if villagers cultivate land, the government can just take it and hand it to state firms. That’s not fair,” Ridwan told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He added that land certification, which is essential to ensure legal certainty, costs up to Rp 20 million per hectare, an amount that is difficult for farmers with less than two ha of land to afford.
“Our hope is that certification can be free. Second, if farmers are already paying taxes, then the infrastructure leading to their plantations should be improved,” he said.
For farmers like Ridwan, the system leaves them feeling less like partners in development and more like “objects of exploitation.”
