WEST BANGKA -- The Putra Samudera Bakit Producer Cooperative, Bakit Village, Parittiga District, West Bangka Regency has succeeded in cultivating vaname shrimp after receiving CSR assistance from PT Timah Tbk.
PT Timah Tbk's CSR program targets community groups including cooperatives to encourage a sustainable economy for the community in the company's operational areas.
PT Timah Tbk through the Micro Small Business Financing (PUMK) program and the Community Empowerment Program help cooperative members to cultivate vaname shrimp in the village.
To start their business, the members of the cooperative borrowed capital from PT Timah Tbk, then after the facilities were ready, 500 thousand vaname shrimp seeds were provided.
Chairman of the Putra Samudera Producers Cooperative Bakit Rodiansyah said that as many as eight members of their cooperative became PT Timah Tbk's fostered partners in vaname shrimp cultivation.
"The facilities and infrastructure to build the ponds were borrowed from PT Timah Tbk, then PT Timah Tbk also helped around 500,000 thousand and this has yielded," he said in a partial harvest of two vaname shrimp.
His party was also pleased with the arrival of the HR Director of PT Timah Tbk, Yennita and the CSR team of PT Timah Tbk to participate in the second partial harvest which was held at the Bakit Village Shrimp Farm, Monday (26/9/2022).
Rodiansyah said the second partial harvest produced 1.8 tons, while the first partial harvest produced 1.3 tons from eight ponds.
According to him, a program like this can help the community in driving the economy and the results are already visible. This is also an example for the community in Bakit Village.
“The difficult thing is changing the mindset, so far there will be our members who fish into the sea every day. But with this vaname shrimp cultivation, he can cultivate it and from these two partial harvests it has produced, this is an example for the community when it is successful and the community sees the process firsthand," he said.
For marketing, he said, they already have their own buyers, so they don't have to worry about buying their shrimp harvest.
He hopes that in the future PT Timah Tbk's CSR program can be sustainable so that it can help the economy of the community in Bakit Village.
"We hope this continues, because this can help the community's economy. If there are only eight now, hopefully later it can expand to other cooperative members and also the general public," he said.
Meanwhile, HR Director of PT Timah Tbk Yennita said PT Timah Tbk continues to support community groups and cooperatives to encourage the community's economy.
She hopes that in the future the groups that receive CSR from PT Timah Tbk can be independent and can help other groups so that they can realize economic independence.
"We hope that the existence of PT Timah Tbk can be felt by the community, with programs like this the company seeks to drive the community's economy," she said.
