World’s Largest Independent Oil Palm Group Gets RSPO Certified

23 Aug 2016 --- The world’s single largest independent palm oil smallholder group has been awarded official certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - a first for the industry.

A group of more than 2,700 independent smallholders covering 5,500 hectares in South Sumatra, Indonesia, have received the RSPO certification recently which makes them the largest individual group ever to be certified.

Sapta Tunggal Mandiri (STM) is made up of seven village level cooperatives collectively producing around 92,000 metric tons of certified Fresh Fruit Bunches. Four of the seven cooperatives were former plasma1 smallholders tied to Wilmar’s PT Tania Selatan mill.

Julia Majail, smallholder program manager of RSPO said: “Today, more and more plasma smallholders are reaching a level of maturity allowing them to become independent and stand on their own. This said, it is crucial for companies such as Wilmar, NGOs and governments to continue promoting smallholder inclusiveness and capacity building and to support Independent Smallholders so that they can achieve RSPO Certification.”

“Through certification, independent smallholders can increase their yield, improve profits, access to international markets while at the same time protecting the environment through adoption of good agricultural practices.”

The certified products from the STM group will be sold via the mass balance supply chain and are so important to the palm oil industry because they account for approximately 40 percent of global palm oil output.

In recent years the industry has been looking at ways to support this group of stakeholders to adopts sustainable practices in order for them to have a share of the export markets, which requires certified sustainable palm oil. All of this leads to big improvements in incomes and livelihoods.

Wilmar, an active member of the RSPO since 2005, is committed to developing an inclusive sustainable supply chain that extends beyond its associate plasma smallholders. As well as Indonesia, Wilmar is working to increase the production of CSPO from independent smallholders in Malaysia.

“To support multiple smallholding farmers and ensure compliance can be very challenging, but because value creation is at the heart of Wilmar’s approach to helping smallholders towards sustainable development, we undertook the challenge with the view of developing an inclusive sustainable value chain model that can be replicated and scaled up in other regions and districts of Indonesia. We are proud of Sapta Tunggal Mandiri’s achievement; it also gives us more confidence to advance our cause on this front,” says Jeremy Goon, Wilmar’s chief sustainability officer.

To date the RSPO has helped 113,673 individual smallholders gain certification and helped facilitate partnerships between smallholders, NGOs and the private sector. A total of certified area for smallholders is 263,371 hectares.

Amin Rohmad is one of the certified independent smallholders from the Dwi Tunggal cooperative.

“We are very happy to be awarded the RSPO certification. The ability to produce sustainable FFB not only will improve our livelihood but also helps link us in South Sumatra to the global sustainable market. We have shown that independent smallholders are capable of complying with international sustainability standards if given adequate support. We are also proud to represent the South Sumatra Province,” he explains.