TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The lack of awareness of land certificate ownership among oil palm farmers has hampered palm oil firms to carry out replanting programs in Indonesia.
Reza Andriansyah, vice president of Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (PT SMART), said that the issues with the legality of lands had been the biggest obstacle for companies to replant farmers' plantations supplying them with oil palms.
"We take loans to finance the replanting program from banks requiring farmers to own land certificates. They even don't have certificates of land ownership issued by village heads," Reza said in Jakarta on Thursday, October 27, 2016.
Reza called on the government, companies, academicians, and activists to raise awareness of the importance of land certificates among farmers. A study conducted by the Research Centre for Climate Change (RCCC) of the University of Indonesia shows that small-scale farmers are not concerned with the issues with sustainable oil palm.
RCCC research team lead Sonny Mumbunan said that despite efforts made by the government and stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable oil palm, farmers have not yet realized benefits they can gain from the scheme.
"Major issues that farmers have been concerned with are production and post-harvest season. Fertilizer and drought are also major issues for farmers. Meanwhile, land status and land opening for oil palm plantation are not considered as the most important risks," Sonny said.
BISNIS
