Palm Oil Packed in All Groceries Stalls

Dani Rahadian P Hidayat

There are several groceries store around my home, where there some neighbor has been opening up wet vegetable stalls, national mini market retailer chains such as Alfamart and Indomaret or simply a home snack and goodies stalls. They serve the daily consumption need of surrounding neighborhood where similar business activities have been erected in an around dense population a big municipalities in Indonesia such as East Jakarta with the population density reaches 16,924 person / km2 or  Depok West java 10,255 person / km2.

Instant noodles, biscuits, cosmetics, and other goodies that you can name it. The all packed in the shelves ready to be picked up and consumed. It is society's daily economic activities supported by routine consumption. There would be a large number of ingredients to make such food and goodies over time.

Agriculture, husbandry, aquaculture is among the sources of the raw material. Yet, fat and oil are the outweigh ingredient to make most of these foods and cosmetics products. Cost is one of the most crucial considerations when the investor producing these materials. Which product sources underpinned that interest?

Vegetable oil considered most efficient since it can be harvested massively, intensively, and renewable. There are some commodities such as palm oil, soybean, corn, and others. However, palm oil is considered as the most efficient and versatile oil. The palm oil production can reach 3 to 4 times other vegetable oil.

Such production rates have attracted many manufactures to sources palm oil as their main ingredient. Besides the more efficient, the palm oil has several superiorities compare with their competitors in specific products such as peanut butter or chocolate jam. It has made palm oil has become one of the favorite choices.            

The palm oil is being produced by either big or small growers. The plantation is mostly located in several islands namely Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Papua were categorized as some of the largest islands in Indonesia. There are plenty of lands available to accommodate large oil palm plantation development although these plantation expansions have raised some concern regarding environmental disturbances.

Those island has been well known as the last remaining natural forest reserves for decades. Unfortunately, those forest areas have been gradually depleted due to expansion and conversion. The biodiversity losses have become a nightmare from this process.

The rich biodiversity natural forest losses have induced the evaporation of carbon to the atmosphere and created a climate change in the end. This has led to the fear of future catastrophic among people and deems the conversion of existing natural forest as one of the triggered. However, it is whether just the vilified story has been made or factual prove. Since some smear stories and also real ground photos have been both taken massively.

Anyhow, there is some initiative to meet a win-win result that has been elaborated. These formed as verifiable certification scheme. Named them such Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), International Sustainable Carbon & Certification (ISCC) or even national Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). They required the oil palm growers complying with their set standard, where it covers environmental, social, and economic aspects.

The standard was being set either by the multi-stakeholder working group and it is becoming a normative approach standard (RSPO) or government coercive certification scheme (ISPO and ISCC).   Those sustainability standard responsibilities must be transferred along with the supply chain actors. Nevertheless, it should be bear from the very bottom of upstream such as the smallholder farmers, then it is flowing through the groove of supply chains channel until it reached the downstream actant.

The smallholder farmers should implement environmentally sound practices including no deforestation acts, respect for indigenous or local aspects also to improve their agriculture practices. It was wrapped up in requirement standards. These sustainable practices as part of certification criteria applied to the smallholder farmers.

The sustainable cycle process will finally end up at some of the groceries stall and franchise mini markets around my home. Although, we rarely hear or sees if there are some eco-sensitive customers in Indonesia. It seems that there are more price-sensitive consumers in developing nations such as here. Although, it will target some developed countries market at least for this point in time. However, we are expecting it will be packed toward sustainability product consumers given the rise in the future.

 

The Changing  Village Perspective on the River and Forest

Living in the rural areas is not a choice for some but it rather than a destiny. There are not many economic opportunities as well as education facilities. It is obviously a rimland, where, people are rarely to look at.

Whoever born at such areas required to expect a miracle to change their lives. Since survival is one of their strategy to adapt and perpetuating stay alive. Nature is their resources in fulfilling their needs. Its sometime forms as food supply and simply a land to grow them.

When I was working for a forest company back dated in the 1996.  A sub district called Siak Sri Indrapura was a small and remote areas in Bengkalis District, in Riau Province. It was a notably peat swamp forest areas with abundant of trees stand ranging along Siak River.

There was not human being living down deep into the forest, since it was predominated by spongy peat soil. It was barely hard to walk through the forest paths especially during the rainy season. It was completely flooded. No one dare to open the land and setting up a house inside the forest just to claim the land.

The Malays people lives along the Siak river banks, and set up a village. Living as a fisherman, they very much relied to the river resources to support almost all their livelihood. Fish, prawn to either eat or sell, water and transportation. Thus, land is just to set up houses while most of their lives has been devoted into the rivers resources.

This condition was not last for long, the growing of population in the other areas had required the needs of housing. It was meant that timber as the raw material are heavily demanded. It was not for domestic need but also abroad demands for timber products.

Forest timber exploitation was began, and it seems abroad timber market was more lucrative compare to domestic one.  Plywood was one of the timber product that heavily demanded in international market. Forest timber was a new commodity that has attracted many investors to extract the resources from the forest.

There were many migrants grabbed the opportunity to work for forestry industry, and it was also stimulated economic enthusiasm. The expenses to operate medium and large business operation has created a vast inflow of capital as well as boosting timber trading.

The money circulation was confined within company operations areas where it lead the villages citizen to be left in their inherit livelihood.  Fish net and stick were their main tools in meeting their daily needs. Although economic on the other side of where they earn to feed the mouth of their family member still beyond of their hands. Since such huge investment to extract large areas of forest would require a massive effort which they never think off.

Although the changing of economic current has a little bit changing their perspective of the natural resource capital. With road being developed, it intertwined among villages that spread along the river banks and there a switch of transportation lane into land connecting road. It has changed the people perception upon natural resources in their front yard.

 (Dani Rahadian Hidayat)