Today, any manager who is in charge of a plantation or an agricultural cooperative is faced with questions about sustainability, and she/he must take decisions that will have consequences in the very long term. Indeed, the production cycle of a perennial plantation is ca. 20 years for palm and rubber, 10 to 20 years for hardwood, 5 to 10 years for fuelwood and pulp.

The Sustainability Manager is in charge of assessing, then transferring and upscaling any innovation generated by R&D. This huge task includes a wide diversity of activities, ranging from waste management to climate-smart design or environmental services.

The key challenge resides in that those new functions are not replacing the "traditional" activities of the Plantation Manager, but will come on the top of them:  basically, ensuring that a high quality material is produced by the plantation and delivered in due time to the right costumer. The Plantation Manager is still in charge of organizing these  basic operations on a day-to-day basis, and now, he/she must design and manage a series of projects related to innovative practices (composting of waste, using beneficial plants, managing water and air quality, etc).

Making farming attractive again

This is a tricky challenge, bus it also makes the job very attractive in many ways:  managing sustainability involves a series of new jobs, from drone surveys to wildlife management (in and around the plantation). New technologies are clearly affecting the job, with hand phone becoming a basing communication tool in the plantation.

Any planting design will have to manage the constraints and opportunities linked to the cohabitation between economic development of local populations, agricultural production and conservation of natural spaces.

Mitigating social issues stand also on the shoulders of the plantation manager. Many challenges stem directly from the colonial heritage of the sector: In Indonesia, plantations have been operating in Indonesia since 1860. Historically, plantations were responsible for providing workers with all basic social services, including housing, schools, and health care. Many of these services continue to be provided by plantations today. In places, geographic isolation exacerbates the risks of human rights violations and must be carefully controlled by the Sustainability Manager.  

Preparing and managing the certification process

The access to increasingly demanding export markets presupposes the establishment of certification of the origins and production practices. The Sustainability Manager is in charge of the certification process on the ground. He/she will have to prepare, organize and report on the plantation surveys requested by national or international certification procedures (RSPO, ISPO, MSPO, IFCC…). This is a key function as it has direct consequences on both the performance and the reputation of the company/cooperative/association.

In some cases, complex certification procedures may target the whole landscape around the plantation, and this might occur at the District or even the Provincial level. This jurisdictional approach of certification is well adapted to the certification of several productive agricultural activities which are intertwined throughout the landscape. This approach is particularly adapted to the certification of smallholders; it relies on trust and on a transparent and strong relationship with local authorities.