REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Policy Review and Regional Development Agency is cooperating with Jambi University to hold an Oil Palm Course for Peace (OPCP) event. OPCP is held on Dec 10-14 in Jambi, province of Jambi.
The statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Review and Regional Development Agency for America and Europe, received in Jakarta, Monday, revealed that the event is a pilot project aimed at providing training in sustainable palm oil management to smallholders.
The training also provided a platform for sharing best practices between Indonesia and Colombia in exploring the potential of agriculture to create peace. The OPCP event was officially opened by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A. M. Fachir at the International Airport Hotel in Soekarno Hatta, Tangerang, on Monday afternoon.
A total of 13 participants, comprising six from Indonesia; two each from Thailand, Colombia, and Timor Leste; and one from the Philippines, took part in the 2018 OPCP.
The participants will attend training activities in Jambi that are coordinated by the Jambi University. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cooperated with other partners, including PT Perkebunan Nusantara VI and PT Asian Agri, in implementing this training.
The initiative for OPCP began with the Helsinki Process peace agreement, in which the Indonesian Government allocated several land areas and budgets that were then managed by former combatants into agricultural land. This effort served as one of the approaches to re-integrate former combatants into the community and some of the agricultural land is used as palm oil plantations.
Colombia has also employed a similar approach in its peace efforts, including through the Cacao for Peace Program in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP. With such experiences, Indonesia and Colombia will collaborate to share best practices on the utilization of agricultural policies in creating peace, increasing the productivity of palm oil farmers, and managing sustainable palm oil.
During the OPCP training, participants will be trained on policies, findings, and facts as well as organizational structures for palm oil companies, in general, as well as palm oil related research and development. This is in addition to the field visits conducted to palm oil companies, so far, certified under the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil, or ISPO, scheme and a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO, in Jambi.
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