03 Aug 2016
Indonesia has always had in demand plantation commodities from around the world, starting from spices, coffee, tea, sugar, rubber, to palm oil (Crude Palm Oil/CPO). Since 500 years ago, European sailors have sailed the ocean in search of spices from Maluku.
But there are no plantation commodities that can stay high for long. Spices also ended their golden era since the 17th century. Now, it is no longer a valuable leading commodity in the world.
"Historically, Indonesia has had several leading commodities. So, 500 years ago, European countries raced to come to the east to find a leading commodity known as spices. As a result, the world was divided by the Portuguese and Spanish. We were the owners of the spices that were being hunted by countries. But today, spices such as history are no longer the mainstays," said Darmin at the Borobudur Hotel, Jakarta, Wednesday (3/8).
As with spices, sugar which was once the mainstay of Indonesian exports in the 1930s is also no longer a favourite. "We were also ranked as the worlds number two sugar exporters before independence. But today do you know how much sugar we import every year? 3.5 million tonnes," Darmin said.
Now we have palm oil. The question is, will palm oil experience the same fate as other plantation commodities which were once the favourites in the world? Darmin said that this was the challenge, how to develop palm oil so that it is a sustainable commodity.
"We have had commodities that have come and gone, will palm oil follow the same path? Of course we do not want that to happen. Palm oil is the mainstay of millions of people, just like rubber. The challenge for us is whether we are able to establish a mainstay commodity plantation that is sustainable," he said.
One of the steps that can be taken so that Indonesian palm oil can be sustainable, can be in continuous demand and accepted by the world market, is to get Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification. With the ISPO mandate, all palm oil companies in Indonesia must meet environmental, social and economic standards.
"ISPO is a standard that we have agreed to make it a credible, respected and internationally accepted standard. I have heard a suggestion that the validity of ISPO should be increased, I think this is appropriate to make it easier for us to implement it nationally," he added. (dtf)
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