P&G and MISI Leadership Farm Visits to the Smallholders program
09 Jan 20
P&G and MISI team visiting the farm on December 6, 2019
On 6th December 2019, Procter and Gamble (P&G) leadership and staff from the Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI) participated in an all-day site visit to the oil palm Collection Center and smallholder farms in Pontian and Batu Pahat area of Johor, Malaysia.
The visit was organized by the Center of Sustainability Small owners (CSS) at MISI. Scott Workman VP Fabric & Home Care Purchasing of P&G Chemicals, Marcus Ringdahl, Global Director of P&G Chemicals, Harish Harlani, Managing Director of P&G Oleo-chemicals (FPG), Girish Deshpande, Global Surfactants Business Planner and Palm Sustainability Leader and Dr. Kuan-Chun Lee, Principal Scientist at P&G Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability represented P&G during the site visit.
The day started with the visit to a smallholder Collection Center (CC) at Seteguh Collection Center Bhd. The P&G delegates and MISI team were welcomed by the head and owner of the Seteguh Collection Center.
The CC was established in 1986 and manages and oversees more than 350 small farmers supplying oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to the center. The CSS is facilitating these smallholders to obtain MSPO certification through the P&G Smallholder Program. This session was attended by independent smallholder farmers who are the ambassadors for the P&G Smallholders Program. Participants viewed the weighing process at the CC ramp where the incoming fruit is weighed and the grading process was demonstrated for under-ripe and over-ripe fruit. They then moved on to visit oil palm farms.
A group photo at Hj. Tukimin’s farm
The first farm visit was to a peat soil farm owned by Hj. Tukimin where some harvesting and pruning activities were demonstrated to the participants.
This visit also showcased the P&G Smallholder program initiatives, including the Learning Farm (LeFa) where Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) have been disseminated to smallholder farmers. The farm works as an integrated farm where live-stock were also maintained besides farming activities. Hj. Tukimin has been on the LeFa program for almost a year and a half. The program has benefited the farm by improving its overall yield.
The second farm visit was to a non-peat soil farm managed by a contractor and owned by Hjh. Aina. She has participated in LeFa activities since its inception. Her farm is located at Parit Besar, Batu Pahat. This visit showcased the difference between peat and clay soil farms.
This session was attended by more than 50 smallholder farmers who were keen to know more about the P&G Smallholder Program including some who had already signed up to be the participants. The farmers were given the opportunity to interact and ask questions to the P&G delegates, which helped them understand the program and P&G’s commitment to it.
The visitors then moved on to visit the Bingan Jaya super dealer office where supply chain issues and concerns from farm to the Palm Oil mills were discussed by the owner of Perniagaan Bingan Jaya, Ahsan Muslim.
The final phase of the trip involved visiting the MISI CSS field office at Johor where the CSS team presented research posters related to the P&G smallholder initiatives and also the CSS pillars supporting the P&G Smallholder Program.
All the visitors had a very productive day in Johor. We thank all participants and especially the smallholder farmers for making this possible.
For a short two-minute video summary of the program, please click here.