Smallholders – small-scale farmers – make up 70 per cent of all farmers globally. An estimated 450 million smallholder farmers in Asia produce up to 80 percent of the food consumed in the region. In Indonesia, the agricultural landscape is multi-commodity, comprised of a mix of smallholders who farm vital crops such as palm, rubber, coffee and cocoa.
These crops are essential for the everyday needs: palm oil is found in products as wide-ranging as pizza and lipstick; rubber, in medical devices, tyres and clothes; and coffee is one of the most-drunk beverages in the world. However, smallholders often have limited support from the government and lack training in good agricultural practices. This leads to poor yields, which smallholders make up for often by acquiring more land through deforestation.
As one of the most prominent players in the palm oil industry, Musim Mas has strategies that aim to support smallholders’ livelihoods and standards of living while preserving forests, food security, and biodiversity, while remaining profitable and balancing government and local stakeholders’ practices. 2.6 million smallholders manage 40% of planted palm in Indonesia -this makes supporting them essential should the company wish to work towards a deforestation and exploitation-free supply chain.
Musim Mas has been engaging with smallholders in several provinces across Indonesia for many years. Armed with a proven programme and curriculum, Musim Mas now wants to mobilize producers and agencies across commodities, collaborating within landscapes, to share and exchange strategies on how best to support smallholders in tackling deforestation.
How can the world’s most in-demand agricultural commodities mobilise across landscapes and support smallholders in order to limit deforestation and reduce Scope 3 emissions?
In this event organised by Eco-Business in partnership with Musim Mas, sustainability experts from the palm oil, rubber, and other industries share their insights about the smallholder landscape, and how partnerships and collaborations across multi-commodity industries can lead the way to tackle deforestation and future sustainability initiatives.
This event will be closed to media and will follow Chatham House Rules.
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