We were guided by our partner Solidaridad Indonesia, who is working on the National Initiatives for Sustainable Oil Palm Smallholders (NI-SCOPS) program in East and West Kalimantan. The visit had the objective to learn more about sustainable palm oil in the field directly from the smallholders in their environment. 
 

We were guided by our partner Solidaridad Indonesia, who is working on the National Initiatives for Sustainable Oil Palm Smallholders (NI-SCOPS) program in East and West Kalimantan. The visit had the objective to learn more about sustainable palm oil in the field directly from the smallholders in their environment. 

Our first trip was to the Suaran village, to have a look at oil palm agroforestry in an encroached forest area. A tree planting activity was organized with the Berau government officials and farmers. Later, we moved into the actual forest for an informal discussion with the smallholders to hear their stories. There are new plans to work more closely with the farmers union to reach more smallholders. 

Then, moving to the village of Tumbit Melayu, we saw Solidaridad’s efforts in the interventions in a non-forest area where the main focus of their interventions here are  Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). A farmer training on RSPO/ISPO took place, and we got to sit in to understand how the farmers are being trained for certification. An inspirational meeting took place with household women producing cocoa cookies produced in the village. Tumbit Melayu is not only an oil palm village, it is also a cocoa village with products like chocolate banana chips.