Cargill, WWF to assess palm oil suppliers in Indonesia

Antara 9 Jul 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Cargill is collaborating with the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. (WWF) to undertake an assessment of its palm oil suppliers in Indonesia as part of its continued commitment to sustainable palm oil production.

The assessment would help gauge current progress amongst Cargill`s suppliers to implement the principles and criteria established by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Cargill said in a press release issued from Minneapolis, the US.

"We are committed to helping lead efforts to move the palm oil industry towards more sustainable palm oil production," said Paul Conway, senior vice president at Cargill, in the released published on the company`s website.

"We already have responsible palm production policies on our own plantations and we want to play our part by working with the industry and the Indonesian government to encourage the adoption of sustainable production practices. WWF`s extensive experience will help us assess progress amongst our suppliers and will enable us to work with each supplier to implement the standards set out by the RSPO," he said.

The assessment will begin in August 2010 and the first phase will prioritize estates from Cargill`s key suppliers with the highest biodiversity concerns.

Cargill will release a summary of the overall findings and resulting action steps after the first stage of the assessment, which is expected to be complete in early 2011.

"This project is very important to WWF because it will help move the palm oil industry to higher levels of performance," said Jason Clay, senior vice president of markets at World Wildlife Fund.

Cargill has set a goal of buying 60 percent of its total crude palm oil from RSPO members by the end of 2010. It is encouraging its suppliers to join RSPO and to attain certification for all of their oil palm plantations.

Cargill`s oil palm plantation, PT. Hindoli in Sumatra, Indonesia has received the RSPO certification and smallholders at this plantation are scheduled in the next few months to be the first to be RSPO certified. It also is working towards getting RSPO certification for its other palm plantation, Harapan Sawit Lestari.

The company has its own policies in place for responsible palm production on its own plantations including commitments to not plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF); to not develop new plantations on deep peat land or land that would threaten biodiversity; and a strict no-burn policy for land preparation.