JAKARTA – The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) is pushing for the acceleration of the replanting program implementation in the smallholders’ plantations with the main goal to increase their productivity and sustainability.

The replanting program is badly needed by smallholders, as most of their plantations are in lower productivity as they have already passed the peak of their production age.

“For such purpose, Gapki central executive board has set up a replanting acceleration task force, which involves all of its provincial offices, to help accelerate the implementation of replanting program,” Gapki Executive Director Mukti Sardjono said during a focus group discussion on the role of the oil palm plantation fund management board (BPDPKS) in strengthening the partnership in managing the oil palm plantations, which was organized by Media InfoSawit last week.

“We’re also a member in the working group for smallholders’ data and capacity improvement, which is established by the economic coordinating ministry. Through the working group, Gapki helps smallholders in fulfilling all requirements needed to get financing under the replanting program,” he said.

He said that actually partnerships with smallholders had been started since the World Bank provided assistance in 1970s to develop the project of oil palm smallholding plantations in North Sumatra (P3RSU) and the program of nucleus estate smallholder (NES). “Then it was followed with the development of nucleus estate and smallholders scheme for oil palm plantations (PIR) with a variety of implementation schemes,” he told the participants of the group discussion.

“Implemented with a variety of schemes, the PIR program has expanded the total area of oil palm plantations owned by the smallholders, from only 6,175 Ha in 1980 to 5,958,502 Ha in 2019,” he said.

Source: economicreview.id | Featured image via william-reed.com