Asian Agri

Asian Agri is one of Asia's largest palm oil producers, with an annual production of 1 million tons of palm oil.^[1][2]

Asian Agri

Company type	Private
Industry	Palm Oil Plantation and Mill
Headquarters	Jl. Letjend MT Haryono No.A-1 Medan , Indonesia
Products	Crude Palm Oil (CPO)
Number of employees	More than 25,000
Website	asianagri.com/en

Business

Founded in 1979, Asian Agri manages 28 palm oil plantations and 20 mills in Sumatra, Indonesia. It has a total oil palm plantation area of 100,000 hectares, and partners with Plasma smallholders responsible for an additional 60,000 and independent smallholders responsible for 41,000 hectares.^[3][4][5] It employs more than 25,000 employees.^[6][7]

Partnerships

PIR-trans and plasma programs

Asian Agri was one of the first companies involved in Indonesia's PIR-Trans (Perkebunan Inti Rakyat-Transmigrasi) program in 1987. The program brought together plantation owners with transmigrated smallholders. Asian Agri developed and implemented the program in Riau and Jambi, Sumatra, facilitating plantation development, developing infrastructure and providing training in best agronomic practices.^[8] The company also assisted smallholders in securing bank loans.^[9] Smallholders now contribute to half of Asian Agri's total palm oil production.

The company has also assisted its partnered smallholders in receiving certification, such as RSPO, International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO).^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]}

Independent smallholders

Asian Agri's partnership with smallholders extended to selected independent smallholders. Along with WWF Indonesia, RSPO and the government, the company helped established the Amanah Palm Oil Independent Smallholders Association in 2012. As of 2015, the Amanah Association comprised 349 smallholders managing 763 hectares of land. It is the first^[16] independent smallholders cooperative in the country to be RSPO-certified.^[17][18]

In March 2016, the Indonesia Agriculture Ministry, the United Nations Development Programme and Asian Agri piloted a 3-month training program for 500 members of the Amanah Association in effective plantation management. SNV Netherlands Development Organisation facilitated the training and technical support. Participants were later independently assessed based on the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standards, before being the pioneer batch of independent smallholders to receive ISPO certification.^[19][20]

Sustainability

Fire prevention

Asian Agri implemented a zero burning policy across its operations in 1994 to prevent land by cleared by fire.^[21] It became a founding member of the Fire-Free Alliance in early 2016. The Alliance implements the Fire-Free Village Programme, which was pioneered by Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings. Implemented in collaboration with NGOs, government agencies and the police, the programme involves education, training, capacity-building, infrastructure development and incentivization for villages to adopt no-burn practices to land clearing.^[22]

In parallel with its implementation of the Fire-Free Village Programme, Asian Agri also engages communities through the Masyarakat Peduli Asap program, which similarly promotes fire prevention and best practices in fire management.^[23][24]

Palm oil-related pledges and commitments

At the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit, Asian Agri was a signatory of the New York Declaration on Forests, which commits to halving the rate of deforestation by 2020, and end it by 2030. In parallel, the company also became a signatory of the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge (IPOP) along with Golden Agri Resources (GAR), Wilmar and Cargill, committing to deforestation-free palm oil cultivation practices in their supply chains.^[25][26] IPOP disbanded on July 1, 2016.^[27]

In 2015, Asian Agri, along with Apical, partnered The Forest Trust to develop and improve its supply chain traceability.^[28]

In 2017 Asian Agri achieved 100% traceability of fresh fruit bunches reaching its mills^[29]

In 2018 Asian Agri became a founding member of The Sustainability Assurance and Innovation Alliance (SUSTAIN), a group of oil palm growers, palm oil processors, consumer goods manufacturers, not-for-profit organizations and technology companies who are using blockchain to improve palm oil traceability^[30]

Biogas power plants

In 2015, Asian Agri announced plans to build 20 biogas power plants by 2020. The power plants will be powered by biogas produced from the palm oil mill effluent. The company had 5 biogas power plants as of Dec 2015 ^{[31][32][33][34]} and increased to 10 as of Dec 2018. ^[35]

References

1. "Asian Agri aims output at 1m tons in 2015". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
2. "Asian Agri to involve more farmers in CPO production". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
3. "Asian Agri > About Us". www.asianagri.com. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
4. "Improving livelihoods of smallholders through partnership". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
5. "Sepanjang 2018, Asian Agri Produksi 1,16 Juta Ton CPO". Sawit Indonesia. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
6. "Ask Woodfibre LNG". Ask Woodfibre LNG. 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
7. "Committed to Community, Asian Agri Receives Award for Best Community Program" (PDF). rgei.com. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
8. "Smallholder Partnership". www.asianagri.com. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
9. "Oil Palm Fund invests Rp 6.75 billion with smallholders". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
10. "Improving livelihoods of smallholders through partnership". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
11. "Asian Agri promotes best practices amongst smallholders". Inside RGE. 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
12. "Palm oil's big issue: Smallholders". Eco-Business. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
13. Bovarnick, Andrew; Newport, Samantha; Uno, Tomoyuki (2015-05-13). "Multinationals cannot prevent palm oil deforestation on their own". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
14. "Asian Agri Beri Insentif Rp 2,6 Miliar kepada KUD Petani Sawit". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 26 February 2019.
15. "Asosiasi Amanah jadi Asosiasi Petani Swadaya Pertama Raih Sertifikat Ispo". Tribunnews.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 26 February 2019.
16. "In a First for Indonesia, Independent Smallholders Receive RSPO Certification". www.wwf.or.id. 2015-12-03. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
17. "Asian Agri to partner more independent smallholders". Inside RGE. 2015-12-03. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
18. "Improving livelihoods of smallholders through partnership". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
19. UNDP. . www.inpop.id. Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
20. "Islands in focus: Farmers attend workshop for certification". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
21. . Agrofarm (in Indonesian). 24 October 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
22. . Jakarta Globe. Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
23. "Asian Agri provides haze relief and aid to affected communities". Inside RGE. 2015-12-14. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
24. "Asian Agri Actively Conducts Fire Free Village Program Engagement to Prevent Fire and Haze". www.asianagri.com. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
25. Clancy, Heather (2014-12-30). "2014 progress report: 5 positive signs for the world's forests". GreenBiz. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
26. "Signing of Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
27. "Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge disbands". Eco-Business. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
28. "Asian Agri (AA) and Apical have joined TFT - TFT". TFT. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
29. "Asian Agri Group". SPOTT.org. SPOTT.
30. "Palm Oil Alliance Initiates Blockchain Solution to Drive Sustainable Practices". Jakarta Globe. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
31. "Asian Agri to build 20 biogas power plants by 2020". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
32. "Asian Agri to optimize excess supply from biogas power plants". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
33. "Biogas Power Plants for a Sustainable Future". Inside RGE. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
34. "Economy in brief: Palm oil mill effluent used to generate power". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
35. "Asian Agri to have 10 units of biogas power plants". Antara News. Retrieved 2018-12-14.