Keresa the first oil palm firm in Sarawak to be RSPO certified

18/11/2010 (The Star Online), KUCHING - Keresa Plantations Sdn Bhd, one of Sarawak's smallest oil palm estate companies, has emerged as an industry leader as the first in the state to obtain RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) certification.

The company's crude palm oil (CPO) mill in Bintulu Division is the certified unit, and the scopes of the certification include the crop from Keresa plantations and its neighbouring indigenous smallholders.

The RSPO is a global, multi-stakeholder initiative on sustainable palm oil. Its members are drawn from different backgrounds, including environmental and social non-government organisations (NGOs), banks and investors, growers, processors, manufacturers and retailers of palm oil products.

Keresa managing director Graeme Iain Brown said the company had gone the extra mile by initiating Sarawak's first independent group schemes for smallholders.

The programme seeks to prepare and support smallholders to be RSPO certified.

Brown said the group had 6,000ha matured plantations and an additional 4,000ha were under development. The group has 11,000ha which has yet to be planted.

Our mill produced about 33 tonnes of CPO last year,'' he said after the RSPO certificate presentation ceremony.

Browne said Keresa would work for RSPO certification for its three associate oil palm plantations in Bintulu and Miri Divisions, which together owned some 16,000ha.

He said the company was in talks with the big players, like Wilmar International Group and IOI Corp Bhd, to market its certified CPO, which commanded a price premium of between US$5 and US$25 a tonne.

BSI Group Asean managing director Alwi Abdul Hafiz said the RSPO was a mechanism for responsible producers to demonstrate their commitment to producing sustainable palm oil.

Being a voluntary standard, RSPO acceptance is market-driven. The acid test is commitment by consumers to buy certified sustainable palm oil and the willingness by producers not only to adopt sustainable practices but also to be subject to continuous audit by independent third parties,'' he added.

Alwi said major buyers, like the Netherlands, had committed to source 100% certified sustainable palm oil by 2015. Similar commitments have been made by major manufacturers, such as Unilever, Body Shop and Tesco.

He said the RSPO meeting in Indonesia last week passed a resolution that required palm oil users to make time-bound and verifiable commitments to purchase certified sustainable palm oil.

Judging from the number of producers which have been certified, and the many more which are in the process of being certified, it is clear that producers have also accepted this (RSPO) standard,'' added Alwi.