TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
International businesses can empower Indonesia's smallholder farmers
The international businesses and investors that profit from the commodities trade have a role to play in upskilling and strengthening Indonesia’s farmers.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A man unloads kernels of oil palm fruit from a pickup truck to sell at a market on July 10, 2024, in Sepaku, East Kalimantan. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
T
he Prabowo Subianto administration has said Indonesia must increase palm oil production and other agricultural commodity exports, as part of the push toward 8 percent economic growth.
Efforts to boost exports must include smallholder farmers, who account for over 40 percent of palm oil production and nearly all of Indonesia’s output for other crops like rubber, cocoa and coffee.
Indonesia’s authorities and private sector have the primary responsibility to engage with smallholders. The international businesses and investors that profit from the commodities trade also have a role to play in upskilling and strengthening Indonesia’s farmers.
Indonesian policymakers have long understood the importance of engaging with smallholders. The Agriculture Ministry is currently working to register smallholders under the new e-Surat Tanda Daftar Budidaya (e-STDB) system, in cooperation with local authorities, companies and NGOs. Registration in the e-STDB system helps farmers in various ways, such as letting them more easily access replanting funds and helping them to meet the legality requirements needed to export their products to international markets.
The e-STDB system feeds into Indonesia’s broader National Dashboard initiative, designed to facilitate compliance with the European Union’s new regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) and similar import-export rules in other countries.
