The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has proposed a new standard exclusively for independent smallholders, to promote greater inclusion into the RSPO system. The proposed new standard - tailored to help reduce unnecessary burdens faced by independent smallholders towards obtaining the RSPO certification - was unveiled at the 16th instalment of the annual Roundtable Conference on Sustainable Palm Oil (RT16). RSPO chief executive officer Darrel Webber stressed that smallholders face many challenges that deters them from gaining market uptake. In Malaysia, only less than 0.2% of smallholders are RSPO-certified, according to RSPO co-chairman Datuk Carl Bek-Nielsen. According to RSPO, smallholders will be supported in terms of obtaining fresh fruit bunch (FFB) legality requirements, training on pesticide handling, grievance mechanism, fair and transparent pricing, negotiations and contracts, as well as livelihood improvement programmes.

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