PALMOILMAGAZINE, EAST BELITUNG – Palm oil plantation company PT Sahabat Mewah dan Makmur (SMM), a subsidiary of PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk. (ANJ), again gave awards to its partner smallholders through five cooperatives.
This award is in the form of premiums from the sale of sustainable palm oil with a total value of Rp 442,283,998. The premium was symbolically handed over to representatives of each cooperative at the ANJ Learning Center on March 27, 2024.
The value of the premium distributed this year increased by 29%, with the value of the previous year, which was Rp 340,769,162. The five partner cooperatives that received premiums are Mitra Lestari Cooperative, Sambar Jaya Makmur Cooperative, Mitra Anugrah Cooperative, Berhimpun Sejahtera Cooperative and Lindong Raya Cooperative, which have more than 376 farmers with a total certified land area of 755.08 ha.
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Geetha Govindan, Deputy President Director of ANJ, when opening the event said that the distribution of sustainable palm oil premiums organized by SMM is a form of SMM’s commitment to continue contributing to economic development and community empowerment in East Belitung.
The distribution of sustainable palm oil premiums is one of our commitments in establishing partnership cooperation with seven cooperatives and one BUMDesa. Today, five of the seven cooperatives are again incentivized by the RSPO premium price.
“We congratulate the farmers who received the sustainable palm oil premium incentive. We hope that this will motivate the SMM partner farmers to continue to improve their production quality in the future,” said Geetha Govindan, ANJ Deputy President Director, as quoted from a release received by Palmoilmagazine.com, March (30/03).
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Geetha also explained that the provision of sustainable palm oil premiums is a clear proof that the cooperation that has been established between SMM and oil palm farmers has benefited the farmers.
The same thing was also conveyed by Juli Wankara Purba, President Director, SMM. He explained that the delivery of this premium was the result of good cooperation between the SMM team and partner farmers, as well as the support provided by the East Belitung Regional Government.
The increase in premium value this year was driven by an increase in RSPO certified palm oil production from the partner smallholders. Going forward, SMM is committed to continue implementing good plantation governance and tightening FFB selection to ensure the CPO produced comes from sustainable farmers.
“This is in line with SMM’s commitment to government regulations and RSPO. We are committed to move forward together with our partner cooperatives, so that the cooperative members can benefit. Hopefully, by 2027, all eight partner cooperatives will get the sustainable palm oil premium,” Juli said.
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Harman, a smallholder representative from Berhimpun Sejahtera Cooperative thanked SMM for the sustainable palm oil premium. He also said that in the future it is hoped that the premium value obtained by Berhimpun Sejahtera Cooperative can increase. In addition, the management has made an innovation that the distribution of premiums from cooperatives to members will be distributed through banks, so that the distribution is more secure, accurate and practical. The achievement of Berhimpun Sejahtera Cooperative is that the cooperative’s debt is at zero point and since its establishment in 2015, cooperative members have enjoyed the results.
The sustainable palm oil premium handover event was also attended by the Regent of East Belitung, Drs. Burhanudin. On this occasion, the Regent of East Belitung appreciated the annual sustainable palm oil premium distribution activity carried out by SMM. He also said that the distribution of sustainable palm oil premiums is a form of symbiotic mutualism between companies and farmers.
“Hopefully the premiums obtained can be used as much as possible for the prosperity of the cooperative and its members. Hopefully, the activities that SMM has carried out can be replicated by other companies,” Burhanudin concluded.
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Besides being attended by the Regent of East Belitung, the handover of sustainable palm oil premiums was also attended by Khairil Anwar as Deputy Regent of East Belitung, representatives from the Agriculture, Plantation and Cooperative Offices, as well as Sub-District Heads and Village Heads from Dendang, Balok, Simpang Pesak, Simpang Tiga, Limbongan and Tanjung Kelumpang and their staffs.(P3)
