Independent oil palm growers in Indonesia are forming volunteer firefighting groups and pooling resources to clear land without burning, seeking to protect their farms and communities from recurring fires and haze.
But their efforts depend on access to equipment, training and support from larger producers, said Guntur Prabowo, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) Head of Smallholders.
He cited one group that used income from RSPO credits to buy a tractor that neighbours could use to clear land without burning.
The stakes extend beyond protecting crops. For Malaysian oil palm farmer Linella Pallai, haze affecting her community in Sabah brings fears for her children’s and grandchildren’s health.
“Our children and grandchildren can fall ill,” she told Eco-Business in Malay, describing how children eager to play outside must wear masks to protect themselves from the thick haze. She also recalled how smoke reduces visibility on the roads, making even routine journeys difficult.
For farming communities in Sabah, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia, recurring haze has made working outdoors and even routine travel increasingly hazardous. Image: Aulia Erlangga / CIFOR, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Flickr.
“We get worried about leaving the house, even just to go to the farm, because we’re afraid inhaling the haze will make us sick,” said Pallai, whose home is located beside her oil palm farm. She manages a 5.3-hectare oil palm farm in Beluran, Sabah, roughly 180 kilometres from the border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan region, where wildfires have devastated swathes of land.
While farmers have much to gain from preventing fires and adopting more sustainable practices, doing so requires resources that many cannot provide alone.
“We will not rebuild credibility by asking smallholders to carry the cost of sustainable practices alone,” RSPO Chief Executive Joseph D’Cruz said at the organisation’s annual conference in Jakarta on 3 November.
Pallai joined the Wild Asia Group Scheme (WAGS) in 2012 and secured RSPO certification the following year. The scheme provides training, technical assistance and certification support, while Wild Asia’s Small Producer Inclusivity and Resilience Alliance (SPIRAL) programme connects support for smallholders with industry partners.
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It’s important that the [financial] incentive goes back to the farmers so that they can continue [their] sustainable practices.
Inke van der Sluijs, Director of Market Transformation, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
Pallai said improved farming practices had lowered costs and increased yields and earnings, helping her pay for her children’s education and buy a vehicle for farm transport.
Fellow Beluran farmer Wasrizan bin Basri took over his father’s 1.2-hectare holding when his father became ill about a decade ago. He joined WAGS in 2016, became certified in 2017 and now works with its member support team, helping other farmers navigate certification.
But the transition has not been straightforward. Both described difficulties maintaining comprehensive farm records and complying with requirements for fertiliser application and palm frond management.
They shared their experiences during a smallholder inclusion forum alongside RSPO’s annual conference in Jakarta.
Building trust, funding change
Pallai joined Wild Asia after repeated village visits and meetings with farmers, while Wasrizan was drawn by the long-term benefits of an initiative involving the social enterprise and a multinational palm oil buyer.
Prabowo said trust is essential to encouraging farmers to change established practices. Certification typically takes two to three years, requiring “knowledge building, capacity building overall to even understand what sustainability is,” he told Eco-Business.
Unlike major plantations with dedicated compliance teams, independent growers often rely on nonprofits, mills and development agencies for financing and training. RSPO says sustaining financial rewards for certified smallholders also requires stronger demand for their credits.
The benefits can extend beyond certified farms. Yen Hun Sung, RSPO’s Director of Standards and Sustainability, described a “halo effect” in Thailand, where certified smallholders share knowledge on fertiliser management, recycling palm fronds and negotiating with mills, even with uncertified neighbours.
Smallholders can become “an agent of change”, he said, because they belong to the communities they seek to influence.
Sustainable farming practices, including better fertiliser management and recycling palm fronds, can help improve yields and reduce costs. Image: Icaro Cooke Vieira / CIFOR, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Flickr.
The risk of exclusion
Helping farmers achieve certification is only part of the challenge. Sustaining those practices also depends on whether companies reward their efforts and include them in supply chains.
RSPO credits offer one source of additional income, allowing companies to support certified growers without necessarily buying physically segregated certified oil.
“It’s important that the [financial] incentive goes back to the farmers so that they can continue [their] sustainable practices,” Inke van der Sluijs, RSPO’s Director of Market Transformation, told Eco-Business.
A Wild Asia representative said Pallai and Wasrizan received annual credit-related payments, although their individual amounts were not disclosed.
According to RSPO figures, independent smallholders generated US$7.9 million through the sale of 387,342 Independent Smallholder (IS) credits in 2025, up 103,154 credits from the previous year.
Beyond financial incentives, growers also need buyers willing to help them meet increasingly stringent sourcing requirements.
As traceability and deforestation requirements tighten, Prabowo warned of “passive exclusion”: buyers favouring farmers already able to meet sustainability standards rather than helping others comply. He criticised sourcing policies designed “to reward those that are ready, rather than making them ready.”
He said companies must do more than finance training and certification. They must also include smallholder production in their purchasing policies.
For him, responsible palm oil means “you’re not leaving anyone behind.”
