August 25/South Sumatra, Indonesia/Entertainment Close-Up -- Cargill's oil palm plantation, PT. Hindoli in South Sumatra, Indonesia, has received Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification.

According to a release, this is the world's first smallholder scheme to become certified under the RSPO's Smallholder Principles & Criteria and is also another important milestone in Cargill's commitment to producing palm oil in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner.

"We would like to congratulate our smallholders on their successful RSPO certification. This collaborative journey towards sustainable production of palm oil with our smallholders started in 2008, and we celebrate this landmark achievement with them," said Angeline Ooi, chief executive officer of Cargill Tropical Palm Holdings Pte. Ltd, Cargill's oil palm joint venture company.

Cargill's PT. Hindoli's crush mills in South Sumatra process fresh fruit bunches from its owned oil palm estates and the fruit bunches it purchases from the smallholders' scheme. The smallholders' scheme at Cargill plantation consists of 8,800 smallholders organized in 17 cooperatives with 17,594 hectares planted with oil palm. The RSPO smallholder certification by the executive board of the RSPO was independently audited by BSi Management Systems.

"Our commitment to partner with our smallholders to implement RSPO is a demonstration of Cargill's overall efforts to lead the palm oil industry towards sustainable palm production. Adoption of responsible and sustainable practices by smallholders will lead to rising rural incomes as demand for certified sustainable palm oil continues to grow," said Ooi.

Cargill's owned palm estates at PT. Hindoli received RSPO certification in 2009, and the company is working towards getting RSPO certification for its other palm plantations, PT. Harapan Sawit Lestari and PT Indo Sawit Kekal. Cargill's European and Malaysian refineries also have received approval to offer RSPO products. The company has its own policies in place for responsible palm production on its owned plantations, including commitments to not plant on high conservation value forests (HCVF); to not develop new plantations on deep peat land or land that would threaten biodiversity; and a strict no-burn policy for land preparation.

Cargill's refined oils business and its PT. Hindoli palm plantation have recently received official certification for its sustainable palm oil supply chain according to the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) standards. This means that Cargill is able to provide customers with palm oil destined for energy applications that is working toward compliance with both the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED) as well as the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), which are being written into law by EU member countries.

Furthermore, in July, Cargill announced a collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. (WWF) to undertake an assessment of its palm oil suppliers in Indonesia as part of its continued commitment to sustainable palm oil production. The assessment will help gauge current progress amongst Cargill's suppliers to implement the principles and criteria established by the RSPO.

From the August 30, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition