Press Release

Mulyanto, 40 years old, a pineapple farmer in Suban Baru Village, Kelakar District, Muara Enim Regency, South Sumatra, could not hide his emotion and smile when he saw the expanse garden with thousands of pineapples ready to be shipped and sold to Java.

After three years of failing harvests due to various obstructions, such as lack of capital, limited land, lack of seeds, and scarcity of fertilizers, this year’s harvest was successful as a result of the farmers’ continuous effort.

Before, capital as the key to a productive cultivation was a problem. Production was not optimal and sales profit was only able to cover the farming cost and minimum daily needs, until the Makmur Tani Group met with the PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Team.

"We are from the Makmur Tani Group, consisting of 10 members, got an injection of funds from PTBA's CSR as a capital in developing pineapple business," said Mulyanto (January 22).

After receiving guidance from PTBA CSR team, the problems, ranging from the difficulty of clearing land, finding superior seeds, to the cost of buying quality fertilizers, were resolved. Finally, they are able to produce competitive, super, sweet, and not easily rotten pinapples on target. "Alhamdulillah – praise to God, now Suban Baru pineapple can be sold to local markets, Lahat, Baturaja, Palembang, Bengkulu and even to Java," said Mulyanto.

Another farmer, Antoni, 41 years old, experienced the same thing. He was very happy and grateful to PTBA’s assistance resulting in the success of the Makmur Tani Group. According to him, the pineapple harvest was not optimal before PTBA CSR came. It was almost practically not harvesting even in one year period because the production amount was not proportional with the operational costs.

But now after capital injection and PTBA's CSR guidance, they can harvest pineapples every 4 months in an area of ​​more than 1.5 hectares.

"We no longer hear any farmers have difficulties to clear land or buy seeds and urea or NPK type of fertilizers," said Antoni.

With revenue of IDR25 million to 30 million per harvest per 4 months and the selling price of pineapple of IDR3500 per fruit, this is considered a big success and obviously can only be achieved with the help of PTBA CSR program.

Meanwhile, Assistant Manager for CSR partnership program as well as the coach for pineapple farmers, Listati, said that CSR partnership program is a form of PTBA's real contribution to community development.

"Hopefully the program can give utmost benefit and later, after the Makmur Tani becoming truly independent, they can continue to grow even greater, not only harvesting pineapples but also downstreaming pineapple into various products," said Listati.