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PTPN IV PalmCo Sets A New National Record For The Fastest Replanting, Expanding The Active Off-taker PSR Pattern

Today, we are replanting the oil palm plantation owned by the farmers of Tani Makmur. It seems like this is also a record for the fastest replanting process after the technical recommendation from the Ministry of Agriculture was issued," said Jatmiko Santosa in his speech in front of hundreds of farmers and local government officials in Langkat Regency, Wednesday (19/06).

Indeed, less than a week after the recommendation was issued, the company was able to accelerate the signing of a tripartite agreement between the Cooperative, BPDPKS, and the Financing Institution. "Not only fast, but we also want the success of the partnership model between PTPN and plasma farmers that has been proven successful in Riau, to be expanded through an off-taker model to non-Plasma farmers, like here in Besitang Langkat," he explained.

PTPN has indeed started a partnership model that has become a best role model in Indonesia. Since 2019, through Regional III (PTPN V at that time) in Riau, this state-owned plantation company has launched 4 programs, one of which is the single management partnership program, where from rejuvenation to the oil palm trees reaching their harvesting age, all management of these farmers' oil palm plantations is directly managed by PTPN.

Not only that, the partnering farmers also receive geospatial mapping facilities and are also included in sustainability certifications such as Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil and Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil.

In Riau, our partner farmers who use the single management system have exceeded the national standards in their first year of crop production, achieving 18 tons of fresh fruit bunches per hectare per year," Jatmiko said, revealing that with this level of production, our partner farmers are able to earn high monthly incomes ranging from 5 to 7 million Rupiah. In fact, their cooperative can have a balance of billions and can make accelerated repayments for plantation development financing.

With this achievement, Jatmiko hopes that the success of our plasma partner farmers in PTPN can also be extended to non-plasma palm farmers. Through the off-taker system offered, the company not only acts as a collector of smallholder palm plantation production, but also provides technical support and continuous development assistance, just like what our plasma partner farmers receive from PTPN.

"Our hope is not only with the single management system. In the future, with the increase in PSR grant funds from BPDPKS reaching 60 million Rupiah, KUDs that are able to carry out their own rejuvenation can take advantage of this Off Taker system. This way, we can expand and accelerate the PSR program together," he added.

Meanwhile, representing PalmCo shareholders, Dwi Sutoro, the Marketing Director of PTPN III (Persero), expressed the company's commitment to the corporatization of farmers. "With existing institutions like KUD, we hope that the corporatization of farmers can provide more added value and become the foundation for the sustainability of smallholder plantation businesses in the future," said Dwi.

To achieve this, Dwi mentioned the corporate action of forming the PTPN IV PalmCo sub-holding company, which focuses on palm oil. He believes that this move can be a booster for the national PSR program, which has always fallen short of the government's target. "PalmCo aims to help farmers implement PSR on an area of 60,000 hectares by 2026."