UNDP LAUNCHES PROGRAM FOR SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL PRODUCTION

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched in New York earlier this month a new program striving for an integrated approach to the sustainable production of palm oil and other agricultural commodities. The Good Growth Partnership program will also cover palm oil with a total budget of US$45 million funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The program will focus on a few countries, namely Indonesia and Liberia on palm oil, Brazil on soya and Paraguay on beef. “Palm oil, soya and beef are a key part of the global commodities trade and have become dominant economic forces in many local and national economies, including supporting the livelihoods of many small-scale rural farmers and their communities,” Andrew Bovarnick, global head of the UNDP Green Commodities Program, said during the launching. “Our aim is to develop models for intervention that can be replicated in other commodities and other geographies.”The program will run for four years, and in Indonesia, it will focus on three provinces, namely Riau, West Kalimantan and North Sumatra. Total funding for the archipelago is $6 million to be allocated in the next four years. The program aims to develop “forward-thinking business and financing models” to manage sustainable palm oil production while also protecting forests and peatlands.

Also at the launch of the UNDP project in UN, Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) chairman Joko Supriyono said that Indonesia plans to increase production of palm oil to 42 million tons by 2020 to maintain its global lead.  Indonesia has a lot of room to increase production, especially in improving the productivity of palm oil plantations. “As a market leader, we will focus on increasing production. We will pursue this through increasing the productivity of our existing plantations, not through the expansion of new plantation areas,” he said.Indonesia produced 35 million tons of palm oil last year, around 55 percent of global production.