{"id":221780,"date":"2025-09-11T10:05:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=221780"},"modified":"2025-09-11T10:05:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:05:43","slug":"palm-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/11\/palm-oil\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent palm oil farmers excluded from sustainable market"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"palm
Made from the fruit of the oil palm tree, palm oil is a key ingredient in everyday items<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new study found that independent palm oil farmers in Indonesia are being unintentionally left out of supply chains that lead to sustainably certified mills. Led by a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa researcher, the findings were published in Communications Earth & Environment<\/i><\/a> and spotlight a significant barrier to creating an equitable and sustainable palm oil market.<\/p>\n

“Passive exclusion is silent but powerful,” said Andini Ekaputri, lead author who conducted the research as part of her PhD<\/abbr> at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management. “Many farmers never have the opportunity to participate at certified mill markets, and they miss out on potential benefits like price transparency.”<\/p>\n

$72 billion global market<\/h2>\n

\"palm<\/p>\n

Palm oil, made from the fruit of the oil palm tree, is the world’s most widely used edible oil. It’s a key ingredient in hundreds of household products like pizza, shampoo and doughnuts, and is also used in animal feed and as a biofuel. The global palm oil market is estimated at $72 billion a year.<\/p>\n

While large company-owned plantations produce the majority of palm oil, about 30% comes from smallholder farmers. These farmers fall into two categories: contract smallholders, who have formal agreements with palm oil mills, and independent smallholders, who operate without such contracts.<\/p>\n

Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil, has a vast number of independent smallholder farms. The study found that Indonesian mills certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO<\/abbr>) were less likely to source from these independent farmers.<\/p>\n

Independent farmers left out<\/h2>\n

The research team analyzed data from mills in Kalimantan and Sumatra and found that certified mills sourced only 7% of their fruits from independent smallholders, even though these farmers produce an estimated 34% of the total palm oil fruits. Conversely, certified mills purchased more than expected from contract smallholders.<\/p>\n

The findings will inform the EU’s deforestation–free products regulation, which may risk cutting out some small–scale palm oil producers.<\/p>\n

The authors recommend that organizations like the RSPO<\/abbr> and major palm oil traders take a more proactive approach. They urge for increased engagement with smallholders and collaborative efforts involving governments and the private sector to resolve issues such as land legality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A UH<\/abbr> study found that independent palm oil farmers in Indonesia are being unintentionally left out of supply chains that lead to sustainably certified mills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":221424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[212,1363,158,73,9],"class_list":["post-221780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-manoa-research","tag-publication","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/manoa-ctahr-palm-oil-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221780"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221798,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221780\/revisions\/221798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}