About Farmer Trainings: Financial Literacy And Environmental Safe-guards

Promoting Sustainable Oil Palm Farming

Project: Integrated Sustainable Oil Palm (ISOP) Farmer Trainings

Financial Literacy And Entrepreneurship Skills: Diversification As A Way To Sustainability

"An Investment In Knowledge Pays The
Best Interest" - Ben Franklin

Despite a significant growth in palm oil production over the past few years, one of the most important agro-extension challenges facing PNG’s oil palm industry and all its stakeholders today is how to improve the living standard of oil palm producing families in light of growing negative impacts of population boom, high incidences of social breakdown and issues over environmental impacts.

A common weakness of oil palm producing families that acts as a barrier to improving their financial position and general living standard is lack of financial literacy skills. Compared to their counterparts in neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia, Papua New Guinea's oil palm smallholder community has a very poor literacy level. Coupled with the growing number of farming families especially in the Land Settlement Schemes (LSS) established in 1967, this issue has lead to widespread breakdown of their livelihood and wellbeing.

As far as environmental impacts are concerned, socio-economic breakdown is closely linked with poverty. And poverty is known to be the greatest drivers of deforestation. 

"Oil Palm Business Planning and
Budgeting"- A "Grassroot" level
resource material used for
teaching planning and budgeting
skills to smallholder oil palm
farmers of West New Britain.

The objective of the Financial Literacy component is to empower both male and female growers not only to better manage their oil palms as a lively business but also explore other alternative non-oil palm opportunities to diversify their  income and thus, improve their livelihood and wellbeing. This would hopefully help under-utilized labour - mostly disadvantaged youths - coping with overcrowding under the palms.

Financial literacy is a new approach never had been fully utilized at Hoskins project. By way of providing entrepreneurial motivation, the overall aim is to minimize the strain placed on the natural environment often associated with overpopulation in oil palm farming schemes. This training emphasises diversification as a way to sustainability.

We would like to thank SPSN (Strongim Pipol, Strongim Nesen) for the necessary financial support to produce the "Financial Literacy" handbook; and OPIC (Oil Palm Industry Corporation) for using their equipments and logistics. Their support has opened a venue for ELCPNG Palm Youth to expose the need for sustainability.

Environmental Safe-guards For Sustainable Palm Oil Development

Without question, the issue of sustainability is the greatest challenge of the coming decades. It is expected that by 2050, the world's population will go up by another 3 billion people at which time 70% to 80% of the population will be living in cities and consuming more edible oils and fats. Simultaneously, fuel prices and weather patterns are becoming increasingly volatile. Standing at the nexus of these changes, the agricultural sector is facing unprecedented scrutiny from governments, regulators, NGOs, investors, and consumers regarding how its business practices impact the environment and the wider world. Palm oil in particular has been at the forefront of these environmental and reputational challenges.

Increasing yields while minimising environmental harm is one of the greatest challenges facing oil palm agriculture and will require the use of a more tailored, knowledge-intensive system.

To minimize sedimentation and
eutrophication of river systems,
frond rows should be well-kept with
legumes grown under the palms.

Although the industry has been RSPO certified, the broader smallholder community at Hoskins project still lack the proper balance between the three pillars of sustainability - People(society), Planet(environment) and Prosperity(economy). This is due to poor information dissemination and low level of literacy among growers.

The ISOP Farmer Training on Environmental Safe-guards attempts to empower smallholder farmers and oil palm beneficieries to work around these three pillars of sustainability so they be fully integrated into their farming systems. Thereby, improving their farming methods and practices.