PANGKALPINANG -- To support the agricultural sector in the operational area of ??PT Timah Tbk, members of the MIND ID Mining Industry Holding often support farmers by providing agricultural equipment and training for farmers.
In Kundur, for example, PT Timah Tbk provided hand tractor assistance to the Tailong Farmer Development Group on Jalan Budiarjo Dusun I Kundur Village, West Kundur District, Karimun Regency, and the Maulana Bukit Naga Kundur Farmer Group.
It is hoped that the Hand Tractor assistance will help make the work of Farmer Group members easier in cultivating their land. So that it can increase the productivity of farmer groups and have an impact on improving the community's economy.
Chairman of the Tailong Farmer Development Group, Kundur Village, Suparnon, appreciated the assistance from Timah Tbk which had provided equipment for their farmer group.
"This hand tractor assistance is very useful for the Bina Tani Tailong group and its members. We are very grateful to the company for paying attention to the farming community," he said some time ago.
He said that up until now, their group members were still cultivating the land traditionally using hoes and makeshift tools.
Suparno said that their farmer group consists of 10 people who are horticulture and vegetable farmers.
"These 10 people work on approximately five hectares of land with various vegetable crops such as chilies, corn, long beans, cucumbers and watermelon. These agricultural products are supplied to meet the needs of the people on Kundur Island," he said.
Meanwhile, West Kundur Subdistrict Head Khaidir expressed his appreciation to PT Timah Tbk for providing assistance to the community in West Kundur Subdistrict.
"The assistance from PT Timah Tbk is not only the fishing community that gets attention, but all levels of society so that the community really feels the contribution of the company's presence in West Kundur," he said.
Apart from that, PT Timah Tbk also provided training on chili farming for the Sinar Baru Farmers Group Association (Gapoktan) South Bangka Regency.
As is known, chili peppers in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province are still imported from outside the region. So providing training to increase agricultural productivity is important in order to reduce the level of dependency.
Chairman of Gapoktan Sinar Baru, Amir Mukimin, said they were very happy to receive training in chili cultivation from PT Timah Tbk. The reason is, this training is very important to broaden their insight.
"Hopefully with this training, we will know more about how to plant and care for chilies, in order to get maximum results. "Because so far we have only been reckless with capital to farm chilies because we don't have any knowledge about chili farming," he said.
Currently, he said, there are around 10 hectares of land where they have planted chilies which are managed by around 12 farmer groups. In one farmer group, there are also around 7-10 members.
He was very grateful that PT Timah Tbk could facilitate this activity for them. He also motivated the Pokdakan to remain active in running chili farming businesses. Especially after receiving training, it can increase the productivity of agricultural products.
"We feel that this training is very useful because there is a lot of knowledge and knowledge that we can learn," he said.
Meanwhile, Paku Village Head Bahtiar Effendi said that this kind of training was the first time for his residents.
“Alhamdulillah, we are very happy with this training. "Hopefully with this training, our intention to make Paku Village a chili center in South Bangka can be achieved," he said. (*)
