Equity in Competence Becomes Focus of National Plantation Development
Human resource development has once again come under the spotlight in efforts to strengthen Indonesia’s sustainable national palm oil industry. Equity in competence is deemed essential so that all actors in the plantation sector, particularly farmers, can keep pace with technological advancements and the increasingly complex needs of the industry.
The General Chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (Apkasindo), Gulat ME Manurung, views the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP) as having a strategic role in improving the quality of human resources in the national palm oil sector.
According to him, various programmes run by BPDP, from scholarships to training, have contributed to enhancing the capacities of farmers and industry players. He considers support for human resources as one of the key factors in the development of Indonesia’s palm oil industry to date.
“I see that one of the keywords for the success of Indonesian palm oil up to now is BPDP’s support, especially in the human resources sector,” he said, as quoted from a press release on Thursday, 9 April 2026.
Gulat also stated that BPDP’s human resource development programmes are now more targeted, through technical training, education, research, and scholarship provision. In his view, this demonstrates a systematic effort to strengthen the foundation of the workforce in the palm oil plantation sector.
Nevertheless, he continues to urge ongoing evaluations to make the programmes more effective and on target. Evaluations are considered important so that the benefits of plantation funds can be more widely felt by all stakeholders, especially farmers in production centres.
Regarding palm oil farmer training, Gulat assesses that the programme needs to continuously improve in quality and targeting accuracy. He emphasises that enhancing farmers’ skills is key to making the national palm oil industry more productive and competitive amid global changes in plantation technology.
He also highlighted the importance of alignment between human resources and technological developments. “I see that evaluations and significant improvements have made BPDP the locomotive of Indonesia’s palm oil human resources. Palm oil human resources must be at the forefront, at least on par with the dynamics of palm oil plantation technology developments. Therefore, universities that are partners in palm oil human resources must be of quality,” he said.