Independent Farmers On-board the Smallholders Program
Haji Sapuan was in the agriculture industry prior to his retirement, and now he runs a combined 13 hectares of oil palm farms owned by him and his siblings. When he was invited to join the P&G Smallholders Program, Haji Sapuan heartily accepted it, a decision that will help him on the journey to achieve the RSPO certification and qualify for the livelihood improvement initiative.
The Center for Sustainable Small-owners (CSS) was established with P&G strategically partnering with MISI, a member of the MIT Global SCALE Network to further its commitments on responsible sourcing of Oil Palm.
CSS is under the Center for Sustainable Value Networks (CSVN) a Center of Excellence delivering on various P&G Initiatives for the past five years.
55-year old Tukimin is another independent smallholder farmer. He used to work with a commercial bank. He left the corporate world after 32 years to engage full time with agriculture. He believes it was the right decision for him, but he also admits that engaging in palm oil farming, wasn’t an easy start.
A year ago, Tukimin’s knowledge of oil palm farming was greatly enhanced when he joined the P&G Smallholders Program delivered by CSS. Through the involvement with the program, he notes that the productivity of his oil palm fruit increased adopting the good agricultural practices (GAP) he learnt from CSS Field Days.
