Jonathan Kwok And Feng Zengkun Straits Times 20 Jun 13;
PALM oil companies listed here have denied that they are using slash-and-burn practices on their plantations in Indonesia.
The land-clearing technique is seen as a key cause of the haze crisis now engulfing Singapore and Malaysia, but the companies say they opt for a mechanical approach that includes using excavators and bulldozers.
Some companies added that they monitor contractors and sub-contractors to ensure they comply with the no-burn policy as well.
Singapore-listed First Resources, which has over 158,000ha of oil palm plantations, said yesterday that it adopts a zero-burning policy for new plantings and uses mechanical methods to clear land.
Its plantations are mostly in Riau, as well as East and West Kalimantan. "We are supported by contractors who are contractually bound to comply with the group's zero-burning policy," said a spokesman.
Indofood Agri Resources, with more than 230,000ha of oil palm plantations, mostly in Sumatra, and over 20,000ha of rubber trees, said sustainable agriculture is at the core of all its operations.
"I can confirm that IndoAgri has a zero-burning policy," chief executive Mark Wakeford said yesterday.
Wilmar International and Golden Agri-Resources, the two largest palm oil companies listed here by market value, also emphasised their zero-burning policies in statements to The Straits Times on Tuesday. Wilmar's plantations are in Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.
Golden Agri, with a planted area of about 464,000ha across Indonesia, added yesterday that it monitors its processes stringently to ensure its contractors comply.
United States commodities giant Cargill, which is privately held, said it has a no-burn policy, and added that there are no hot spots or fires at its oil palm plantations in South Sumatra and West Kalimantan, which together cover close to 55,000ha.
It added that it uses heavy equipment like excavators to clear the land, with Cargill employees overseeing the entire process.
Environmental groups noted that while companies may have no-burn policies, they also buy palm oil from third-party suppliers. "What they need to do is check whether the third-party suppliers are involved in the burning or not," said Mr Bustar Maitar, head of Greenpeace's forest campaign in Indonesia.
Dr John Payne, executive director of the Borneo Rhino Alliance, said palm oil companies and those in other sectors need to know how their raw material suppliers are behaving.
Foul mood in the air as plantation firms feel the heat
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Indonesia Correspondent In Dumai (riau Province)
Straits Times 20 Jun 13;
MY TWO Straits Times colleagues and I were taking some photos when we were briefly stopped by a plantation owner who was worried that we would put his company in a bad light.
Even after we explained why we were there, he ejected us from his plantation - the first time I had come across such nasty behaviour in the several years that I had been covering haze-related stories in Indonesia.
"Who let them in?" the plantation owner in Pelintung, about a 20-minute drive from Dumai, asked his men.
"Tell him I am firing him," the owner of Ayu oil palm plantation company snapped after one of his men mentioned a name.
His foul mood could have been due partly to the fact that the Indonesian government has been cracking down on those who use slash-and-burn methods to clear their land. This can cause fires to spread uncontrollably.
Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya has said that those who resort to illegal open- air burning should be jailed.
Indonesia is under mounting pressure from Malaysia and Singapore, which have been badly affected by the haze and whose governments have raised the issue with Jakarta.
Residents here complain about smoke-related ailments like shortness of breath and chest pains.
Mr Harun, 54, a plantation gatekeeper who goes by only one name, said this year's haze is the worst since he started working here five years ago.
"Fire came from the west a few days ago and from the north-west before that. It felt like doomsday as the smoke shrouded us," he told The Straits Times.
Ayu and at least five other plantation companies in Dumai, and more than a dozen others in nearby districts, have been struggling to put out the fires, which their owners insisted were not started on their land. A mix of small plots belonging to local farmers and larger plantations owned by companies are found in these areas. Oil palm is the main crop.
In 2011, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a regulation requiring local governments and private companies with firefighting equipment to help put out any fire, according to Mr Raffles Panjaitan, a Forestry Ministry official.
"Previously, whenever there was a fire, people would turn to the Forestry Ministry for help. Now, everyone must get involved, and we are getting tougher. It is everybody's task... because only 20 per cent are forest fires, while the remainder are in plantations," Mr Raffles told The Straits Times.
