RSPO makes commitment to smallholders

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the international multi-stakeholder organisation and certification scheme for sustainable palm oil, has set up a Smallholders Support Fund (RSSF) for eligible palm oil smallholders around the world, including the largest oil palm producing countries Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Latin America and Africa.

“Smallholders are stewards of natural resources and need to be made aware of the advantages of being certified which include access to international demand markets for sustainable palm oil; longer term efficiencies in terms of yield and productivity as well as effective cost management,” commented Darrel Webber, secretary general of the RSPO.

“The primary challenge for smallholders to become certified include lack of awareness on benefits of being certified; funding support and lack of expertise or capacity building. Given the significant ratio of smallholders in the palm oil sector – it is critical they continue to be central in our strategy to catapult sustainable practices in the sector towards market transformation,” he added.

Last September, the RSPO announced its first certification of independent smallholders in Thailand through group certification. The community comprised 412 smallholders over 2,767.33 hectares of planted land.