Hivos’ lessons learned on sustainable palm oil

The original title is Menghijaukan Sektor Sawit Melalui Petani: Lesson-Learned Hivos untuk Isu Sawit Berkelanjutan.

The book was officially launched in Jakarta on January 26th, 2016  with the support of Indonesia’s Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The event was attended by Biranchi Upadhyaya, Director of Hivos Southeast Asia, the Head of LIPI Regional Resources Research Center, Dundin Zaenuddin. and the authors, Panca Pramudya and Rini Hanifa. Both authors formerly worked at Hivos and remain important sources of support and expertise.

The book is based on Hivos’ experiences working with smallholder farmers in the palm oil sector in 2004. Hivos provided financial support, helped them develop a certification system and increased their institutional networking capacity. In addition to standing up for smallholder’s rights, Hivos started in 2008 to implement sustainable palm oil projects for independent farmers, working with Gapoktan Tanjung Sehati in Merangin Regency, Jambi and Setara Foundation, Jambi.

Thanks to the success of these programmes, smallholders from Gapoktan Tanjung Sehati are now a point of reference for farmers throughout Indonesia and abroad, prime examples of how to achieve sustainable palm oil production. For Hivos, the main goal is not only attaining certification for palm oil, but also preparing smallholder farmers to face the challenges of sustainable palm oil production and marketing at the global level.

 “Greening the palm oil sector through smallholders” is a valuable contribution to the sustainable palm oil network in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. You can download a PDF copy of the book (In Indonesian) in here.