In plantation management, the issue of “sustainability” has become the biggest challenge. More than 3 billion people in 2050, or about 70% to 80% of the population, will be live in urban areas and consume more vegetable oils and fats produced by agriculture and plantation. One of Indonesia’s primary plantation commodities is oil palm, which has involved millions of people and has reduced poverty. Plantation development that generates broader social benefits and can maintain natural resources is a key in developing sustainable plantations; thus, it can be competitive and succeed in the long term. Therefore, plantation development needs to integrate into sustainable regional development based on a jurisdictional approach.
The current oil palm plantations’ issues are low productivity, high production costs, and several counterproductive government policies both at the national and regional levels. The productivity of Indonesian oil palm plantations is still less than that of other producing countries such as Malaysia, Colombia, and Thailand, despite Indonesia is the world’s largest oil palm producer. Besides, Indonesia’s production costs of oil palm plantations are higher than in other producing countries due to additional expenses, especially for security and social costs.
These problems are challenges and should overcome to implement sustainable oil palm plantation management. A measurable system approach is needed based on obvious targets and criteria. The concept of sustainable oil palm plantation management should integrate all aspects such as environment, productivity, economic stability, fairness, and cross-sectoral policies. This conception is developed in the guidelines on preparing the Regional Plan for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation as part of the National Guidelines for Sustainable Plantation based on a jurisdictional approach.
The jurisdictional approach is one of the regional-based development approaches. This development approach has main characteristics such as considering the synergy (1) across sectors, (2) across actors, and (3) across geographical units. The synergy between those three factors is expected to encourage the stakeholders’ participation. Every sector, actor, and geographical unit could benefit from planned and implemented development programs.
Regional Planning for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation based on a jurisdictional approach is a model to empower smallholders towards sustainable oil palm production practices. It is different from more extensive plantations, which can quickly shift to a sustainable production system. With the Jurisdictional-based Regional Plan for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation, the plantation sector is expected to drive a sustainable competitive economic model, prioritize environmental protection and justice, and is supported by solid and innovative industries.
Efforts to strengthen Regional Plan for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation require comprehensive policies, strategies, programs, and activities. The framework for strengthening the plan has four main aspects: environment, productivity, economic /investment stability, and fairness. Each aspect has its criteria and indicators designed for achieving the primary targets, including First, facilitating the multi-stakeholder process in preparing Regional Plan for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation. Second, identifying priority programs and their performance indicators and sharing implementation and financial responsibilities between central and local governments, companies, village governments, and farmer groups/cooperatives. Third, integrating the Regional Plan for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation into the Regional Economic Development Plan.
The guideline structure on the preparation of Regional Plans for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation contains Guidelines for Identification, Inventory and Data Analysis; Guidelines for Planning Compilation Process; Guidelines for Preparation of Action Plans and Implementation; and Guidelines for Reporting, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Development.
The guideline on the preparation of Regional Plans for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation has 4 (four) main parts as follows: (1) The first section is the Introduction, (2) The second part contains guidelines for identification, inventory & data analysis of oil palm plantations at the regional level, (3) The third part is the guidelines on the preparation of Regional Plans for Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation based on a jurisdictional approach, (4) The fourth part is the Guidelines for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Development.