ISPO Clinic to help companies to get certification

To ensure all its members are certified by the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) by the end of 2020, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) will open a clinic to assist companies. "Through the ISPO Clinic, we would like to assist companies to receive ISPO certifications," he said on the sidelines of the 15th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference (IPOC) 2019 and 2020 Price Outlook in Nusa Dua, Bali, Thursday.

The association will conduct roadshows in every province on holding ISPO training and coaching clinics for both, member and non-member companies, he also said.

Presently, there are 725 companies which are members of Gapki, of which 372 have earned ISPO certifications, or 66 percent, Supriyono revealed.

"Considering that there are still quite a few that have yet to be certified, we have laid down our commitment a few months ago to have 100 percent of our members to be certified by 2020," he said.

To achieve the target numerous factors need looking into. However, many of these were beyond Gapki's supervision and could only be resolved by the government, Joko acknowledged.

In this case, it involved several ministries under the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, such as the Spatial Planning Ministry, the Ministry of Forestry, and the Ministry of Agriculture.

"There are many problems that we cannot resolve. For example, we must cooperate with the government on the Plantation Business Permit (HGU) that fell in the forest area, where the HGU could not be certified for many years," he said.

Through the ISPO Clinic, Gapki would be able to discover the hurdles that companies face while applying for an ISPO certificate, he added.

"As long as the problem is technical, we can help. But, if the problem is political, it is the government’s responsibility," he said.

The ISPO certificate was an important step towards overcoming the black campaign on palm oil, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin stated earlier, in his opening remarks at the IPOC 2019.

Gapki's commitment for all members to be ISPO-certified by the end of 2020 is a very good step, he stated.

"Through this certification, negative messages directed at oil palm can be reduced by data and facts related to ISPO commitments. ISPO is an important part of improving palm oil governance," Amin added. (INE)

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