JAKARTA – The Association of Indonesian Palm Oil Smallholders (Apkasindo) hopes that the Indonesian government will soon devise an implementing regulation at the level of ministry or related government institutions on the status of oil palm plantations that are many claimed to have encroached forested areas.
“We, smallholders grouped in Apkasindo, hope that the ministry of environment and forestry and ministry of agriculture will soon synchronize with all prevailing regulations from the presidential regulations (Perpres) to ministerial regulations and to directorate general regulations on the legal status of oil palm plantations,” Apkasindo Chairman Gulat ME Manurung said during a virtual press conference recently in Jakarta.
He said that the issuances of technical regulations will help accelerate the growth of oil palm plantations, especially those under the program of replanting for smallholders (PSR) as has been initiated by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as part of the national strategic programs and economic recovery program during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that Apkasindo also expected that the government would issue a regulation that will help the smallholders in getting the certification of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), which is obliged by the presidential regulation (Perpres) No.44/2020 on the system of ISPO certification.
Regarding regulation on community forests, Gulat said that such a regulation should ensure a legal access, clarity and certainty for smallholders in operating their plantations, in participating in the replanting program, and in getting the ISPO certification. It should anticipate the possibility for smallholders to deal with potential criminal cases and civil cases in developing their oil palm plantations in the forested areas.
According to him one of the main problems facing smallholders in participating in the replanting program is the legal status of their plantation locations as many of them are located in areas claimed as forested areas. (*)
Source: TEMPO.CO
