28/01/2012 (Jakarta Globe) - Sinar Mas, one of Indonesia’s largest palm oil producers, is spearheading new models of sustainable agriculture in the country in partnership with global giants such as Nestle.

Speaking to the Jakarta Globe, Franky Widjaja, chief executive of Sinarmas Agribusiness, said sustainability was near the top of the agenda at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

Widjaja is co-chairman of a new initiative, Partnership on Indonesian Sustainable Agriculture, which has as its goal improving productivity by 20 percent while reducing poverty and greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent.

“We have to learn together to ensure sustainable agriculture, he said. “This is a multi-stakeholder partnership that includes the government, the private sector, small farmers and civil society.”

In the program, Widjaja will represent the private sector while Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan will represent the government. Some 43 industry leaders from across the world are participating in the initiative, which was first launched three years ago.

The latest initiative coincides with the Jakarta Food Security Summit, scheduled to be held in the Indonesian capital in mid-February.

“The message we need to communicate is that we must address the right issues rather than attack the palm oil industry in general,” Widjaja said. “We must segregate the issues so we do not hurt small farmers and our exports.”

He estimated that of the 7.5 million hectares under palm oil cultivation, 43 percent is farmed by small holders. While many of these small farmers practice sustainable agriculture, he continued, others do not.

“Not only is their yield low, they do not understand the whole notion of sustainability,” he said. “It is our job to educate them.”

Arne Cartridge, special advisor at the Global Partnerships for Food Security at the WEF, said the main issue for countries such as Indonesia was to boost food exports while ensuring that local people had enough food.

“For Indonesia, the challenge is how does it use palm oil as a competitive advantage while ensuring environmental sustainability,” he said. That includes helping the agriculture sector to adapt to climate change by reducing deforestation.

Cartridge noted that there were land areas in the country that could be utilized for agriculture, but it needed to sort out the land rights issue first.