9
Bob Norman,
Sustainable Palm Oil Manager
The field coordinators lived in the villages, experienced
life in real-time rural Sabah, and witnessed the pains and
pleasures, ploys and politics of kampung (village) society.
These were moments of insight. To help the field teams
access remote villages, AAK funded the purchase of two
4x4 vehicles. In doing so, the teams could cover ground
efficiently and safely.
The interviews were not just about collating data but also
to build awareness to organize and mobilize. Each of the 20
villages have now formed active committees to tackle the
issues identified and to work closely with their designated
Forever Sabah district field coordinator. Collating and
analyzing the data required some additional support, and
AAK was able to provide laptops for the field teams to record
and manage all the data gathered from the interviews.
From the data collected, a comprehensive report was
published in May 2018. It provides a fascinating insight into
the importance of oil palm for smallholders and the enormity
of the challenges to achieve RSPO certification by 2025.
Important key findings
For AAK and Forever Sabah the report provides the baseline
insight of issues to be tackled and helps to prioritize. One
of the key findings from the survey was that only 36 percent
of smallholders have land titles while 61 percent of smallholders
in the TTBK villages are growing their oil palm with
Land Application (LA) status, namely on land for which they
have applied but to which they do not have title. Insecurity of
tenure is a problem for the farmers and the environment as it
is associated with vulnerability and low levels of investment
in production and land care. It is also a major problem for the
society as it creates instability and risk of conflict.
AAK continues to be committed to support the Sabah
smallholders, with a particular focus on land tenure during
the next 12 months. Securing land tenure cannot be
underestimated. It is a requirement for RSPO certification
and it secures indigenous smallholder rights and reduces
social conflict as well as increases incentives for long-term
investments by those smallholders in productivity and
sustainability. This issue is the single-most important one
to smallholders, which ripples throughout the landscape to
impact production practices and yield, land encroachment
and deforestation, livelihoods and poverty.
While this is going to be one of the hardest and most
important issues to address for Sabah’s Jurisdiction Certification
process, we are certain that we will be able to maintain
the great momentum within Forever Sabah and truly make a
difference for the region’s smallholders.