"Incentivising sustainability: Training smallholders to grow sustainable palm oil", 18 June 2021

[...]

Over 80 per cent of palm oil originates from Malaysia and Indonesia, where its cultivation has led to vast deforestation and carbon emissions, and been linked to other problems such as infringement of land rights and forced labour.

While some countries such as Belgium and Sri Lanka plan to reduce their use of palm oil via import bans and other means, others are considering regulations that would improve supply chains’ transparency, encouraging ethical and sustainable sourcing of the commodity.

Several palm oil companies have also ramped up efforts to promote sustainable agricultural practices, especially among smallholders – those with less than 50 hectares of planted palm oil – who make up about 40 per cent of global palm oil production.

Musim Mas, one of the industry’s largest players, is expanding a smallholder programme in Indonesia. “We’re aiming to be a responsible leader in the palm oil industry’s evolution, by working with stakeholders to address concerns from greenhouse gas emissions to loss of biodiversity and labour and human rights,” said Rob Nicholls, Musim Mas’s general manager of programmes and projects.

[...]

Rudman Simanjuntak, manager of independent smallholders programmes, observed that many independent smallholders do not adopt sustainable practices out of a lack of knowledge or the belief that such practices are costly. “Part of our work is to show them that sustainability doesn’t necessarily mean expensive costs, and can in fact reduce costs,” he said.