Palm Oil Farmers Support Improved Governance, Urge Supply Chain Stability

The Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (POPSI) supports government efforts to close foreign exchange leaks and improve national palm oil trade governance. However, the farmers’ organisation warns that new policies, including the proposed single-channel export system, must be carefully designed to avoid disrupting the palm oil industry’s ecosystem involving millions of farmers across Indonesia.

POPSI Chairman Mansuetus Darto stated that farmers back the government’s push to increase foreign exchange reserves and combat practices that harm state revenue, such as under-invoicing in commodity trade.

‘We support the government’s efforts to boost foreign exchange reserves, as we understand that higher reserves enable more development programmes for public benefit,’ Darto said in a press statement in Jakarta on Sunday, 31 May 2026.

He added that palm oil trade policies must consider their impact on the entire supply chain, particularly independent smallholder farmers who are the primary suppliers of raw materials for the national palm oil industry.

Darto explained that the palm oil industry is not merely about plantations and mills, but a complex interconnected ecosystem spanning farmers, mills, refineries, traders, exporters, and international buyers. ‘The immediate impact of policy changes is often not felt by large industry players, but by smallholder farmers at the upstream end,’ he said.