Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) has signed an MOU with one of its major customers, Neste, to help boost independent smallholder sustainability. The project based in Indonesia will focus on a group of farmers in the Siak district in Riau province. The two parties will collaborate to enable Smallholders’ Group certification leading to the supply of certified palm oil. The project will help independent farmers adopt sustainable practices and gain wider market access, in line with the objectives of the companies’ sustainability policies
Expanding on GARs Traceability to Plantation efforts, the project will engage with, map and identify independent smallholders in GAR’s supply chain. The joint GAR-Neste project is also expected to identify farmers eligible to participate in another GAR initiative, Innovative Financing, a project that improves smallholder productivity by providing financial and agronomic support for replanting.
GAR and Neste are actively seeking collaborators to further this project in recognition that such partnerships are essential to tackle industry-wide challenges.