"Activities in sustainable plantation development include increasing the production and productivity of smallholder plantation commodities, such as oil palm, dalam coconut (variety), rubber, cocoa, pepper, palm (Arenga pinnata), and nutmeg by maintaining the ecosystem," he informed here on Saturday.
He explained that sustainable development supports environment and nature preservation, as well as organic agriculture, which can increase productivity and, thereby, improve small farmers' welfare.
The provincial plantation office is also running many programs to implement strategies and policies to support smallholder plantations.
The programs include the expansion of smallholder plantation areas and increasing their productivity through commodity plant intensification, rehabilitation, and rejuvenation.
The office is also promoting efforts to increase the quality of plantation human resources and farmer groups by providing training and mentoring staff.
Moreover, Muzakkir said, his side is conducting oil palm tree rejuvenation to increase production using funding provided by the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS).
"The fund from BPDPKS is used for the replacement of old plants. We also replace fake seeds and plants damaged by pests through the Smallholder Oil Palm Replanting Program (PSR)," he said.
Based on information obtained from BPDPKS's website, PSR aims to help smallholders renew their oil palm plantations with a more sustainable approach.
PSR is said to help reduce land clearing for plantations and is carried out with four requirements, namely it must be legal, productive, sustainable, and meet the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standards.
The program was launched by President Joko Widodo on October 13, 2017, in Musi Banyuasin District, South Sumatra.
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Translator: M Ghofar, Kenzu
Editor: Sri Haryati
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