Pelalawan, 3 May 2016 – Asian Agri collaborated with Coordination & Socialization Agency (Bakorluh) in Riau Province in exploring potential villages for fire and haze prevention.
Head Sustainability Asian Agri, Welly Pardede explained that to succeed the Fire Free Village Program, Asian Agri collaborated with Bakorluh to explore the economic potential from 7 villages under Asian Agri’s fire-free village program.
“We used to find people burning their land for land clearing due to lack of funds to fulfill their daily needs. In the future, we will collaborate with Bakorluh in giving suggestion and solution to utilize the villages’ potentials with no burning,” said Welly.
While assisting the socialization done by Bakorluh at Sotol Village, Langgam District, Pelalawan Regency, which is one of Asian Agri’s fire-free village program, Welly stated that Asian Agri will support the community to develop the economic potential of the village through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program.
Meanwhile, Team Leader of Bakorluh, Basrani in his presentation to community stated that the team is present only to explore the economic potential of this village. According to him, it’s challenging to prevent people from burning their land for economic reasons.
“Based on the initial investigation result from Asian Agri’s fire-free villages, we will ask the company to assist the community, synergized with its CSR programs,” said Basrani.
The joint program of Asian Agri and Bakorluh was also endorsed by Riau Governor, Arsyad Juliandi Rahman who directly assigned the team to do the socialization to Asian Agri’s fire-free villages.
The socialization was held at local authorities’ office, such as: Lalang Kabung Village, Lubuk Ogung Village, Segati Village, Tambak Village, Sotol Village, Rantau Baru Village, Delik Village, located in Pelalawan Regency.
The team also conducted surveys to areas which are potentially supported for economic development. One of the villages is Sotol village. According to Sotol Village Leader, Eka Chandra SH, his village has not been optimally developed as it has limited funds and knowledge.
“We thank Bakorluh and Asian Agri who conduct this socialization for our communities. We hope this socialization can provide additional knowledge to our people. We hope that Asian Agri can assist them in developing village’s potential to increase communities’ economy”, said Eka when he welcomed the team at Sotol village office, Langgam District, Pelalawan Regency on May 3, 2016.
Sustainability Manager of Asian Agri, Zulbahri said earlier that the team prioritizes fire and haze prevention than suppression. “Fire-free Village Program / FFVP is an effort to prevent fire and haze, especially villages surrounding the company. The socialization conducted by Asian Agri and Bakorluh is an effort to build “social awareness”. Besides, Asian Agri is also ready to assist community for a land clearing with no burning,” he said.
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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
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 |
