Many seek palm branches to process them into high-value waste, such as palm sticks. In Sumatera and Kalimantan, a number of society groups have created handicrafts from palm sticks. The people of Mekar Jaya SP5 Village in Pangkalan Kerinci, Pelalawan Regency, Riau Province, have a gallery called Maju Jaya Lidi that has managed to create handicrafts from palm branches since 2018.
All of the members of Galeri Maju Jaya Lidi are oil palm farmers that are mostly partners of Asian Agri. Siti Aisyah, the youngest member and Head of the Maju Jaya Lidi Gallery, said, “Initially, the residents of this village were trained at the Mekar Jaya Village Office. At that time, were chose to run a business of creating handicrafts from palm because the materials are easy to obtain, which was right from our own plantations, so once we harvested, we took the branches and used them to create weaves and handicrafts from palm.”
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