IPB and BPDPKS Formulated the Palm Oil Development Strategy
Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and Fund Management Agency of Palm Oil Plantation (BPDPKS) in collaboration with Copenhagen Business School organized a seminar entitled “Sustainable Transitions of Indonesia’s Palm Oil Industry”, Thursday (14/4), in IPB International Convention Center (IICC), Baranangsiang Bogor. This event was a launching of a series of long-term cooperation between IPB and BPDPKS to formulate various strategies in order to ensure the transition process of the sustainable palm oil industry.
Rector of IPB, Prof.Dr. Herry Suhardiyanto, said, the cooperation between IPB and BPDPKS with various universities and institutions associated with the palm oil both national and international would be facilitated by a consortium under the name Indonesia Palm Oil Industry Transitions for Sustainability (I-POINTS). I-POINTS contained two main groups of activities namely education and research. For education, it would be provided the scholarships for doctoral and executive MBA programs each year for 10 candidates (for doctorate) and 20 candidates (for master). Doctoral scholarships were provided not only to Indonesian Citizens (WNI) but also Foreigners (WNA) particularly Europeans who were interested in studying and researching the palm oil. School of Business (SB) of IPB was in charge of the educational aspect of this I-POINTS program, as well as being the secretariat of the overall activities of I-POINTS (including research).
Director of BPDPKS, Dr. Bayu Krisnamurthi, explained, the palm oil was one of the leading and excellent commodity for Indonesia. However, the development and marketing of the palm oil still faced many challenges, irrespective of its status as a source of vegetable oil which was the most efficient. At the moment, the palm oil industry was entering a period of transition to the second cycle. This period of transition was a golden opportunity to improve various practices which had been often used as the basis of the smear campaign against the palm oil. Given the complexity of the problem, it would require the collaboration of various parties to formulate the comprehensive strategy and solution. The involvement of international stakeholders also was expected to increase the effectiveness of the transition strategy of the palm oil industry of Indonesia.
On this occasion, it was also held the Signing of Manuscript of Cooperation Understanding between IPB, BPDPKS, with the national university consortium, namely Universitas Lampung (UNILA), Universitas Jambi (UNJA) and Copenhagen Business School Frederiksberg Denmark.
This event was followed by about 150 participants from various related stakeholders, namely government, researcher, association, academics, practitioner, research institute of palm oil related, and students, that all of which were concerned with the palm oil plantation in Indonesia.(Awl)
E-mail: Dr. Bayu Krisnamurthi, M.Si, HP: 081-111-0661
sekwamendag@kemendag.go.id / bayukr@kemendag.go.id
