Pelalawan, Riau, 12 March 2016 – Ahead of the anticipated dry season, Asian Agri will actively engage communities to familiarize them with Fire-Free Village Program (FFVP).
Sustainability Manager Asian Agri, Zulbahri said, “We conduct the FFVP community engagement sessions to increase community awareness on the impact of fire and haze, and at the same time help communities to develop an improved system of fire management with a greater focus on prevention.”
“We prioritize fire and haze prevention, so we developed the FFVP which encourages every village to commit to adopting ‘no-burn’ agricultural practices, and respond appropriately when a fire incident is detected or reported,” Zulbahri stated at the FFVP community engagement session at PT.Mitra Unggul Pusaka – one of Asian Agri’s subsidiaries in Segati Village, Langgam District, Pelalawan Regency 10 March 2016.
District Head of Langgam, Sugeng Wiharyadi S.Sos., acknowledged the efforts of PT. Mitra Unggul Pusaka (PT. MUP) implementing the FFVP. “PT.MUP should be commended for their implementation efforts. Hopefully, this FFVP community engagement session will deliver results, since the last large-scale fires and haze occurred in Langgam Regency were caused by the lack of knowledge of fire-prone areas. This way, people will not carelessly throw their cigarettes.”
Chief of Police of Segati, Ipda Rusmizahelpi said all stakeholders have to collaborate for fire and haze prevention, and the police will act decisively on law enforcement.
He said, “This program requires every stakeholder’s commitment and collaboration. These include parties such as village authorities, law enforcer, and local communities. We encourage all parties to keep monitoring any fire-prone area by conducting a joint patrol between Asian Agri, Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA) or Fire Aware Community (MPA), and Police Department.”
Environment & Sustainability Coordinator Asian Agri, Hafiz Hazalin Sinaga said three villages (Sotol Village, Segati Village and Tambak Village) located in Langgam District, Pelalawan Regency, Riau Province were involved in the FFVP community engagement sessions.
“The FFVP includes five main activities: Reward for fire-free village; selection of community fire crew leaders; increase community fire awareness; conduct training in ‘no burn’ practices; and implement air quality monitoring,” Hafiz explained.
The Fire-Free Village Program offers each participating village an incentive of IDR 100 million for successful fire prevention. This incentive will support the development of the public facilities in the villages.
Asian Agri will continue with the FFVP community engagement. Following the session held at PT.MUP, Asian Agri will organize the FFVP engagement session with PT.Inti Indosawit Subur (PT.IIS) to be held at AAALI (April Asian Agri Learning Institute) Mekar Jaya Village, Pangkalan Kerinci Disctrict, Pelalawan Regency, Riau Province.
***
About Asian Agri:
Asian Agri is one of the leading private companies in Indonesia producing crude palm oil (CPO) since 1979 and employs around 25,000 people today. Since 1987, Asian Agri has been a pioneer of the Indonesian government’s Trans-National Government Migration (PIR-Trans) program. Today, the company manages 100,000 Ha of land and partners 30,000 smallholder families in Riau and Jambi who operate 60,000 Ha of palm oil plantation.
Asian Agri’s success in becoming one of the leading CPO companies has been acknowledged internationally with the ISO 14001 certification for all of its operations. Its Learning Institute in Pelalawan, Riau, as well as its nursery research center in Kampar, Riau are ISO 9001 certified. In addition, Asian Agri’s R&D Center in Tebing Tinggi has also obtained certification by the International Plant-Analytical Exchange at the WEPAL lab at Wageningen University in The Netherlands, for its high standards.
Aside from its success in becoming a leading CPO producer with the most advanced technology, Asian Agri is also committed to preserving the environment.
More than 80% of both owned plantations in North Sumatra, Riau & Jambi provinces & scheme smallholder plantations in Riau & Jambi provinces have been RSPO certified.
All plantations have also been ISCC-certified (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification), including plantation owned by smallholders
Out of 13 mills have received certification from ISPO (Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil where as the remaining mills have gone through stringent ISPO audit process. It is targeted to have both RSPO & ISPO certification completed by 2015
Asian Agri, guided by its triple-bottom line principles, is committed to be reliable, responsible and sustainable production of quality palm oil and its derivative products. We operate in an environment where the welfare of the surrounding community is crucial to the sustainability of our business operation.
In April 2014, we signed the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto and Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil Pledge.
The Manifesto and Oil Palm Pledge both set out the standards and commitment for Asian Agri in relation to traceability and sustainable supply chain. The commitment includes the implementation of no-deforestation, protection of peat lands and contribution towards to the social-economic development of the local community.
For further information, please contact:
| Elly Mahesa Jenar | |
| Corporate Communications Manager | |
| E-mail: Elly_Mahesa@www.asianagri.com | |
| DID: +68 230 1119 | |
| Phone: +62 811 8776 729 |
