Policy recommendations: training smallholder oil palm farmers in good agricultural practices

Summary
The implementation of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) is a key component of RSPO
certification. The uptake of GAP can improve smallholder yields and provide a financial
incentive for certification. Currently, farmer practices are mostly not in line with GAP,
and training is required to improve practices. But training large numbers of
smallholders in an effective way is challenging.
In our research project, supported by IDH, we carried out a survey among more than
310 farmers in five research areas where trainings had been provided. Based on the
survey data and our own experience in the field, we provide a number of policy
recommendations on several topics:
1. The suitability of different GAP for smallholder oil palm farmers
2. Constraints to adopting GAP, and options to overcome these constraints
3. Options to improve the smallholder training approach