Our Partners

Musim Mas, the top-ranked Swiss university Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich (ETH Zurich), the University of Cambridge, and Indonesia’s Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) are collaborating to understand better the conditions under which supply chain sustainability initiatives can lead to reduced deforestation in the palm oil sector in Indonesia while safeguarding producer inclusion.

This joint research project will measure how Musim Mas’ Smallholders Hubs programs can drive and deliver their sustainability goals. The program began in 2021 and will run for five years. The partnership has developed a research methodology we will apply in 2023 to train smallholders in Sumatra. The project will sample up to 80 villages and survey up to 1,600 non-industrial palm oil producers during this timeframe. 

Musim Mas and General Mills collaborate to build smallholder extension services in Aceh’s Leuser Ecosystem, Indonesia. This program is part of Musim Mas’ vision to establish a Smallholders Hub that serves as a pre-competitive platform where companies can pool resources and share their expertise to train farmers.

In 2023, General Mills signed on to fund a 3rd year of this program to engage more independent smallholders.

Founded in 2008, IDH has grown as a public-private partnerships convener, bringing together companies, Civil Society Organizations, governments, and others. Musim Mas and IDH partner and collaborate through initiatives that include the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) and the Fire Free Alliance (FFA). In 2020, the two organizations entered into a bilateral agreement to help protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh, thus connecting Musim Mas’ NDPE policy commitments with the Indonesian government’s Green Growth Program and its Protection-Production-Inclusion (PPI) Compact.

Musim Mas was the sole Indonesia-based partner with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) working on the Indonesian Palm Oil Development for Smallholders program. Since 2015, we have been assisting independent smallholders in our operations in North Sumatra and Riau through financial support and capacity-building programs on efficient farming practices.

POIG is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on responsible palm oil production verification and innovation. Musim Mas has been a member since 2015 and has participated actively in the POIG Organising Committee (POIG’s decision-making body), Verification Working Group, Retailers & Manufacturers Working Group, and led the development of the POIG Traders & Processors Charter. We are currently chairing the Traders & Processors Working Group, as well as the Communications Working Group. Learn more about POIG at http://poig.org/.

Since 2021, Musim Mas has partnered with the Livelihoods Funds For Family Farming (L3F), SNV, Danone, L’Oréal, and Mars Incorporated to advance regenerative agriculture among independent palm oil smallholders in Labuhanbatu, near Musim Mas’ PT Siringo-Ringo mill in North Sumatra. 

By promoting regenerative agricultural practices, these smallholders can improve soil conditions and minimize soil erosion, lessen the cost of palm oil cultivation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support biodiversity, and adopt other good agricultural practices. 

The ultimate aim is to provide long-term viability of production while diversifying livelihood incomes and reducing pressure on forest ecosystems. The project will run for ten years and aims to facilitate 2,500 smallholders in supplying 100% deforestation-free FFB, including those part of cooperatives, groups, and associations. More information on this partnership can be found here. 

Musim Mas, MUFG Bank, Danamon, and iAPPS collaborated in 2021 on a pilot program in Rokan Hulu, Riau, Indonesia, to promote financial inclusion among independent smallholders. 

This collaboration aims to introduce smallholders to AgriON, a digital finance and financial learning platform driving traceability and sustainability across the agricultural supply chain. 

Musim Mas partners with AAK and Nestlé to address deforestation outside of concession areas in Aceh, Indonesia. 

AAK and Nestlé have pledged to fund the first two years of the five-year program, reaching out to approximately 1,000 oil palm independent smallholders within two years and enrolling them in Musim Mas’ smallholders program supported by Smallholders Hub. In 2023, we are looking to continue our partnership with both AAK and Nestlé for a third year. 

Musim Mas has been a pioneer member of the PONGO Alliance since its launch in 2017. PONGO has been managing and protecting orangutan habitats and other wildlife within oil palm landscapes. Learn more about PONGO at http://www.pongoalliance.org/. 

Musim Mas joined a coalition to support and fund the development of a radar-based forest monitoring system known as Radar Alerts for Detecting Deforestation (RADD). This partnership between Bunge, Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), Mondelēz International, Musim Mas, Nestlé, Pepsico, Sime Darby Plantation, Unilever, and Wilmar will make it much easier for companies and other stakeholders to see deforestation happening in near-real-time and with greater accuracy. 

Musim Mas collaborated with the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP) in 2022, a Borneo-based scientific research facility with expertise in habitat restoration and sustainable plantation management. Through this partnership, we aim to quantify our conservation efforts and review our management and monitoring plans. 

Musim Mas gathered biodiversity conservation data across its plantations for over ten years and engaged SEARRP to assess and provide recommendations for data collection, management, and best practices. In July 2022, a report on the findings, particularly on bird biodiversity, was published. A workshop was held after for Musim Mas’ staff surveyors to improve their techniques and understand new tools such as SEARRP’s Forest Integrity Assessment (FIA) tool to record biodiversity data. 

The Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 (TFA 2020) is a global public-private partnership that aims to reduce tropical deforestation associated with sourcing commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef, and paper and pulp. Musim Mas has been a member of TFA 2020 since 2017. Learn more about TFA 2020 at https://www.tfa2020.org/en/.  

In 2022, Musim Mas and 14 of the world’s leading agri-commodity companies set out a shared roadmap, facilitated by TFA, outlining how they will work towards reducing emissions from land-use change. 

Musim Mas collaborated with Verité to conduct an independent labour compliance assessment. 

The assessment aimed to identify risks of non-conformance to the POIG’s Charter, RSPO Principles and Criteria, Verité Best Practice Standards, and other international norms on worker protection and Occupational Health and Safety. They also targeted to determine the areas of innovation required. 

Wildlife Conservation Society is a New York-based conservation organization that aims to conserve the world’s largest wild places in 14 priority regions, home to more than 50% of the world’s biodiversity. The WCS Indonesia Program is one of the largest WCS programs globally with more than 300 full-time staff.

WCS has worked in Indonesia since initial field surveys were conducted in the 1960s and opened a formal country program in 1997 under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). Under this agreement,

WCS conducts applied conservation research and supports conservation projects across Indonesia in collaboration with a variety of governmental and non-governmental partners. WCS Indonesia partners with us in Aceh Singkil for our smallholders hub. We partner with WCS Indonesia as they have various programs focusing on biodiversity and conservation. WCS finds and gathers independent smallholders in Aceh Singkil and Musim Mas provides the training, where aspects of conservation and biodiversity are shared. To find out more about the programs our partners are in, please visit our landscape page here.