The RSPO Principles and Criteria (RSPO P&C 2013) are applicable to all growers of oil palm including smallholders. Small individual growers face additional challenges to implement the RSPO P&C 2013 on their own because of a lack of resources and capacity, and due to audit costs.
Group Certification is a commonly used tool in the certification of natural resource management (e.g. organic production, good forest management, good agricultural practices). It allows individual growers to be certified under a single certificate, which is held by a central organization or individual (the Group Manager, group administrator or group entity). The Group Manager is responsible for establishing an Internal Control System which controls the group, and for carrying out a program of internal assessments of members’ performance in order to be certain that they are complying with the RSPO production requirements.
The following course is meant to help smallholder farmers better understand RSPO standards and the certification process.