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group of more than 2,700 independent oil palm smallholders covering 5,500 hectares in South Sumatra have received sustainability certification, making it the world’s largest individual group of independent farmers ever to be certified, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm 0il (RSPO) announced on Tuesday.

The RSPO, a global body of plantation companies, refiners, consumers and green groups that promotes the development of socially, environmentally and economically sustainable palm oil, said the smallholders grouped in seven village-level cooperatives had been audited and were assessed to have fulfilled all RSPO principles of sustainability.

“Smallholders play a pivotal role in the palm oil industry as they account for more than 40 percent of the total palm oil output in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer,” said Stefano Savi, a RSPO director, in a press release from Palembang.

The agricultural extension services to help the smallholder group meet the criteria and best practices for the sustainability certification were provided by Wilmar International Ltd., one of Indonesia’s largest palm oil producers and exporters, through its South Sumatra subsidiary PT Tania Selatan.

“Training and empowering the smallholders to meet all the principles, best farm practices and criteria of economic, social and environmental sustainability is really a challenging process,” noted Wilmar commissioner MP Tumanggor.

Wilmar’s chief sustainability officer, Jeremy Goon, said Wilmar helped smallholders adopt sustainable practices to ensure they could gain a share of the export markets that require certified sustainable palm oil.

The EU last year announced its commitment to 100 percent sourcing of sustainable palm oil by 2020 and until now Europe has recognized only sustainable palm oil as certified under the RSPO principles and criteria.

The principles of sustainable management promoted and assessed by RSPO in its certification process fully meet Indonesian development needs, as they promote such elements as transparency, legal and regulatory compliance, best production practices, environmental responsibility and commitments to local community development.

These best practices are similar to the principles promoted and assessed under the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) program, which has been mandatory for all oil palm companies since 2012.

The RSPO, the United Nations Development Program and the Agriculture Ministry have also been supporting programs designed to enhance the capacity of smallholders in implementing sustainable oil palm farming practices.(vin)