Only 1% Certified: Closing the Market Access Gap in Indonesia’s Palm Oil Sector Through Certification
- Carlene Darius
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Editor’s Note
This article highlights the urgent need for inclusive sustainability in Indonesia’s palm oil sector, where smallholder producers remain largely uncertified despite their significant contribution to national output. Published alongside KOLTIVA’s participation in the GIZ GRASS Project webinar, featuring our Senior Program Manager, Jusupta Tarigan as a speaker—it presents a compelling call to action and a practical roadmap for stakeholders to collaborate in building transparent, certified, and inclusive supply chains.
Executive Summary
Independent smallholders remain the backbone of Indonesia’s palm oil sector. In Riau Province, they manage 61.6% of the total plantation area, equivalent to 1.76 million hectares, and contribute over 50.4% of the region’s palm oil production. In 2020, smallholder plantations produced 4.79 million tons out of a total 9.5 million tons (BPS Riau; WWF Indonesia, 2023).
Despite their significant role, RSPO certification among smallholders remains critically low. Although certification uptake has increased since its introduction in 2013, less than 1% of the total smallholder plantation area in Riau is RSPO certified (WWF Indonesia, 2023). This is especially concerning given that approximately 842,409 smallholder households rely on the palm oil sector for their livelihoods (Disbun Riau, 2019).
With certification now a critical gateway to global markets due to tightening environmental regulations and sustainability standards like RSPO and ISPO, this disparity underscores the urgent need for inclusive certification solutions.
·Digital tools and capacity-building solutions such as KoltiTrace and KoltiSkills show how targeted interventions can unlock certification pathways and improve market access. To further scale these models, KOLTIVA is sharing its field-tested approaches at the upcoming “Webinar on Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access” under the GIZ GRASS Project, strengthening collaboration to accelerate smallholder inclusion.
Table of Contents
Certification as the New Passport to Global Palm Oil Markets
Commodity markets have seen a significant transformation due to the growing worldwide focus on environmental issues, climate change, and ethical sourcing. Major purchasers, investors, and regulatory agencies around the world now need verifiable evidence of sustainability. This global shift means market access for commodities, especially palm oil, is now conditional upon transparency and traceability.
The expansion of palm oil plantations has been a major driver of deforestation. Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer and exporter, has already lost 23 million hectares to deforestation every year. This deforestation is highly tied to palm oil plantations, with the largest loss in Kalimantan from 2000 to 2017 (Forest Watch Indonesia, 2024). This concerning environmental loss has fuelled greater global commitments for sustainable and transparent palm oil production with mandates including certification systems such as Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standard. Since the introduction of the standards along with the rising rate of compliance, recent data shows a decreasing trend in palm-oil deforestation over the past decade and has proven to significantly reduce Indonesia’s deforestation rates by 33% (PNAS, 2017).
The clear link between the positive outcome of certified sustainability standards adoption and ecological risk makes third-party certifications for all palm oil players not only serve as a compliance tool, but absolute necessity that brings many benefits especially for enhanced management practices, increased yield and access to markets, better and premium quality of fresh fruit bunches (FFB), and also developed partnerships, and act as a proof of supply chain risk mitigation. Among other advantages, this kind of certification could be the critical gateway for market survival.
Why Certification Matters the Most for Smallholders
While the mandate for certified sustainability is global, the greatest challenges and the biggest opportunities for transformation lie at the grassroot level with smallholder producers. Independent smallholders contribute around 41% of Indonesia’s total palm oil production, underscoring their crucial role in the supply chain (AgTech Navigator, 2025). Certification acts as a guarantee for product legality and sustainability, mitigating risks associated with non-compliance and ensuring long-term access to markets, particularly those with high environmental standards. By investing in the certification of their supply base, companies secure certified supply and foster stable, long-term sourcing partnerships. Moreover, for the millions of smallholder producers, especially in Indonesia, certification offers a clear path to improving their livelihoods and resilience. Contributing to a stronger, more stable palm oil sector and local economic development, the benefits extend beyond market access. They include gaining essential knowledge to adopt Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), increasing yield, and securing a more sustainable future for their farms.
Independent smallholders remain the backbone of Indonesia’s palm oil sector. In Riau Province, they manage 61.6% of the total plantation area—equivalent to 1.76 million hectares—and contribute over 50.4% of the region’s palm oil production. In 2020, smallholder plantations produced 4.79 million tons out of a total 9.5 million tons (BPS Riau; WWF Indonesia, 2023). Despite their significant role, RSPO certification among smallholders remains critically low. Although certification uptake has increased since its introduction in 2013, less than 1% of the total smallholder plantation area in Riau is RSPO certified (WWF Indonesia, 2023). This is especially concerning given that approximately 842,409 smallholder households rely on the palm oil sector for their livelihoods (Disbun Riau, 2019).
Empowering Inclusion Through Technology and Training
In addressing the challenges faced by the smallholders, Koltiva provides an integrated approach that combines digital platforms with on-the-ground technical assistance. Through KoltiTrace and KoltiSkills, KOLTIVA enables transparent supply chains and strengthens both private sector and smallholders’ capacity to meet RSPO standards. These solutions are designed to directly tackle issues of fragmented data, low technical capacity, and limited certification readiness, helping both producers and companies transition toward verified, sustainable sourcing.
Traceability & Compliance Backbone
Comprehensive mapping of palm oil supply chains from smallholder farms to mills, enabling end-to-end transactional traceability, data verification including full polygon mapping and STDB registration, and compliance with RSPO standards.
Capacity Building & Smallholder Empowerment
Field-based training and digital learning to help smallholders adopt Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), strengthen organizational systems, and prepare for certification.
Technical Assistance & Certification Support
Hands-on facilitation for RSPO certification through baseline assessments, ICS establishment, compliance documentation, and audit readiness for smallholders and company partners.
Scaling Impact Through Collaboration: KOLTIVA at the GIZ GRASS Project
Scaling proven, digitally driven models is essential to ensure that smallholders are no longer left behind in sustainable supply chains. In line with this, KOLTIVA participated in the “Webinar on Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access” on October 17, 2025, as part of broader efforts to strengthen smallholder inclusion. The event, hosted under the GIZ Greening Agricultural Smallholder Supply Chain (GRASS) Project, focuses on Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. This event served as a key platform for KOLTIVA to share practical, field-tested strategies and collaborate for sustainable digital solutions with producers, NGOs, companies, and practitioners in implementing the initiatives to ensure producer inclusion through certification, empowerment, and education.
Representing KOLTIVA, Jusupta Tarigan, Senior Program Manager, shared KOLTIVA's in enabling market access through RSPO and ISPO certifications for private sector and producers. “We’ve seen how digital tools and collaborative models can transform compliance from a burden into an opportunity,” said Jusupta Tarigan. “But lasting impact can only happen when all stakeholders work together, ensuring no smallholder is left behind in this transition to sustainable supply chains.”
Through this engagement, KOLTIVA is committed to contributing to scaling digital tools and inclusive solutions that enable more smallholders to participate in sustainable supply chains and engaged in multi-stakeholder setting to collaborate for wider impact.
This moment calls for collective action. We invite stakeholders from across the palm oil value chain—government, private sector, NGOs, and producers—to join the discussion and collaborate in creating more inclusive and sustainable supply chains. By working together, we can turn proven models into scalable solutions that empower smallholders, strengthen compliance, and secure resilient market access for the future.
Author: Carlene Putri Darius, Marketing Communication
Co-Author: Jusupta Tarigan, Senior Program Manager
Editor: Daniel Agus Prasetyo, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communications
About the author:
Carlene Putri Darius is a Marketing Communications Officer at KOLTIVA with passion in sustainability and innovation, Carlene Putri Darius integrates her expertise in technology, marketing, and strategy to promote responsible and inclusive growth. With over three years of experience in consulting, branding, and digital communications, she crafts narratives that connect innovation, sustainability, and social impact for international audiences.
Jusupta Tarigan is a Senior Project Manager at KOLTIVA with over 20 years of experience in traceability, forestry, sustainable livelihoods, and rural development in Indonesia. His work focuses on integrating community livelihood goals with environmental conservation through multi-stakeholder collaboration. Jusupta has a strong track record in building partnerships across farmers, NGOs, government agencies, and the private sector, and brings extensive expertise in social mobilization, project management, and monitoring and evaluation.
Resources:
AgTech Navigator. (2025, August 11). Tackling barriers to EUDR compliance for Indonesian smallholders. https://www.agtechnavigator.com/Article/2025/08/11/tackling-barriers-to-eudr-compliance-for-indonesian-smallholders/
PNAS. (2017). Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(1), 121–126. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1704728114#:~:text=While%20forest%20loss%20and%20fire,forest%20when%20they%20received%20certification.
Forest Watch Indonesia. (2024). Hutan Papua dan Kalimantan alami deforestasi yang tinggi [Papua and Kalimantan forests experience high deforestation]. from https://fwi.or.id/hutan-papua-dan-kalimantan-alami-deforestasi-yang-tinggi/
WWF-Indonesia. (2023). Measuring implication of RSPO certification implementation: English final. https://www.wwf.id/sites/default/files/2024-02/2023_Measuring%20Implication%20of%20RSPO%20Certification%20Implementation_English%20Final_0.pdf
Smallholders truly are the backbone of Indonesia’s palm oil sector. It’s encouraging to see KOLTIVA’s efforts turning certification into opportunity, not just compliance. Imagine the impact when hundreds of thousands of producers gain access to global markets while improving their livelihoods!