Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food expands its fire prevention programme to improve community welfare

- Desa Makmur Peduli Api (DMPA) programme keeps fires away from plantation estates and community lands

- Community development programmes benefit the surrounding community

KETAPANG, Indonesia, Feb. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food's Desa Makmur Peduli Api (DMPA) programme completed another successful year with reduced fires and hotspots in the 17 villages where the programme is running in West Kalimantan and Jambi. In 2017, the total number of hotspots and firespots of DMPA villages decreased to 13 hotspots and 9 firespots from 25 hotspots and 7 firespots in 2016; and 423 hotspots and 271 firespots in 2015.  

In 2017, the programme was expanded in West Kalimantan, to pilot community development programmes focused on developing organic agriculture plots that enable villagers to grow more of their own food, and provide an additional source of income by selling excess produce to local markets.

The CEO of Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food for West Kalimantan plantation area Susanto Yang said: "Following the success of our original DMPA programme in 2016 we are pleased to report that communities in Ketapang have remained vigilant and been successful in minimising fires in 2017."

"In addition to the focus on fire prevention, we looked at the wider needs of the communities from targeted villages. We developed the Integrated Ecological Farming (Pertanian Ekologis Terpadu) to help educate villagers on more sustainable, organic farming methods that can help them meet their own nutrition needs, ensuring food security and supporting economic development. So far there have been three pilot villages for the programme with more than 60 farmer members joining our initiative, of whom 70 percent are women in West Kalimantan. We hope that with this mentorship our farmer members can replicate the process in their own garden plots," Susanto explained. 

Both the members and their families have enjoyed the benefits of this programme. Each family is able to save up to IDR 300,000 per month from cutting down vegetable and spices spending that they can now take from their own garden. In addition, they receive IDR 500,000 on a monthly basis from selling the vegetables to the surrounding villages, after they use it for their own household.

In Ketapang, West Kalimantan, where eight of the 17 participating villages are located, infrastructure investments of IDR 600 million are being awarded in recognition of the villages' efforts in keeping fires at bay in 2017. Those villages are Tajok Kayong, Nanga Tayap, Lembah Hijau 1, Lembah Hijau 2, Siantau Raya, Sungai Kelik, Simpang Tiga Sembelangaan and Tanjung Medan which are located in Nanga Tayap Subdistrict of Ketapang District, West Kalimantan Province.

The DMPA programme has reduced fires in forests, plantations and lands in the areas surrounding our operations from year to year.

"This achievement would not be possible without the cooperation of our Emergency Response Team, Fire Alert Community, farmer members and the local government to tackle this what shared challenge -- preventing and rapidly suppressing fires. We want to repeat this success in 2018 and call on all to remain vigilant as we head into drier months and continue to protect our forests and communities," concluded Susanto.

About Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food

Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food operates under Golden-Agri Resources (GAR) is one of the leading palm oil plantation companies with a planted area of more than 480,000 hectares (including smallholders) as of June 30, 2017. The company has an integrated operation producing food made from raw vegetable oils.

Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food is focused on sustainable palm oil production. In Indonesia, its primary activities include cultivating and harvesting of oil palm trees; processing of fresh fruit bunch into crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel; merchandising and refining CPO into value added products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening and biodiesel; as well as trading of palm oil products worldwide. It also has operations in China and India including a deep-sea port, oilseeds crushing plants, production capabilities for refined edible oil products as well as other food products such as noodles.

Founded in 1996, GAR was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 1999 with a market capitalisation of US$3.4 billion as at 30 June 2017. Flambo International Limited, an investment company, is currently GAR's largest shareholder, with a 50.35 percent stake. GAR has several subsidiaries, including PT SMART Tbk which was listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 1992. For more information about our company, visit www.goldenagri.com.sg

For more information, please contact:
Wulan Suling, Head of Media and Event
Wulan.suling@sinarmas-agri.com, +62-21-5033-8899