Study on the commitment of oil palm companies to achieve sustainable agriculture in Riau Province from the perspective of pesticide use

Abstract

Oil palm has become the main plantation commodity in Riau Province, Indonesia. As the province with the largest oil palm plantation at around 2.7 million hectares, Riau Province has 19% of Indonesia’s total oil palm plantation area. In the midst of environmental issues such as forest fires or using hazardous chemicals, companies or individuals who own oil palm plantations are trying to obtain sustainability certification from the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). However, many companies have not obeyed the correct principles and criteria for sustainable palm oil production, especially in the perspective of using pesticides in oil palm plantations. Based on those problems, this study was to carry out an in-depth examination of the data available from the Plantation Office and Environment-Forestry Office of Riau Province. As a result, we discovered that 70% of the pesticides used were classified as hazardous pesticides, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, it was also found that oil palm companies used glyphosate and paraquat as the active ingredient in pesticides, which have been banned in many countries due to environmental issues. By this finding, the commitment of oil palm companies to achieve sustainable agriculture in using appropriate and environmentally friendly pesticides needs to be questioned‥