TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government announced a plan to improve the national sustainability standards, known as the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) for plantations managed by local farmers.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasuition said that the standards and the ISPO certification must be clarified so that small-scale palm oil plantations can be certified.

"The ISPO is related to establishments. We need to set the standards for small businesses and corporations," Darmin said during a coordination meeting discussing the ISPO at his office on Monday, October 3, 2016.

Attending the meeting were Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita and Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto.

As of July 2016, as many as 184 palm oil plantations had received ISPO certificates. Data from the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs revealed that the total size of lands owned by the certificate receivers stood at 1.3 million hectares with a total production capacity of 6.4 million tons of CPO per year. To this date, the certificate receivers are large corporations.

Therefore, Darmin revealed that the government is in the process of darfiting criteria for small companies and local farmers to apply for ISPO certificates. However, Darmin admitted that the government is struggling to formulate the standards, because they would not want to hamper local farmers.

"The ISPO must be in accordance with the international basic principles," Darmin added.

ANGELINA ANJAR SAWITRI