Palm Oil Contributes IDR 239 Trillion of Foreign Exchange to Indonesia

In one of its attempts, the General Directorate of Plantations organized an ISPO certificate handover and an ISPO empowerment workshop at the Headquarters Auditorium of the Ministry of Agriculture, Jakarta, Tuesday (8/29/2017).

“Out of 11.9 million hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, only 16.7 percent have been ISPO-certified. Our achievement is only 14 percent for ISPO. After today's certification handover, it will be 16.7 percent. The fault does not lie with the secretariat, but because there are many requirements that must be fulfilled. Our target is that all of them must be ISPO-certified. If they are [already] ISPO-certified, I don't think anyone would say that our palm oil is bad. The foreign market would also appreciate our palm oil products,” said Director General for Plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, Bambang.

Bambang said that this activity is intended to increase the commitment of all palm oil stakeholders in supporting the ISPO certification program and strengthening the development of sustainable palm oil. This will make ISPO more acceptable domestically and in the international market.

ISPO certification must be implemented in order for Indonesian palm oil to be accepted and have a strong bargaining position in the export market, and in order for Indonesian palm oil plantations to be managed sustainably.

According to him, implementation of ISPO was also a step taken by Indonesia to counter negative accusations aimed at Indonesian palm oil. The accusations ranged from deforestation to human rights violations.

“Therefore, I urge all business actors and the ISPO Secretariat to continue making improvements so that ISPO certification can be accelerated. As part of our effort to accelerate, we will continue to be open to companies that want to contribute to the certification discourse,” he stated assertively.