PANGKALPINANG -- PT Timah Tbk is committed to supporting the agricultural sector in the company's operational areas. Support provided by PT Timah Tbk through community empowerment programs and through the Micro and Small Enterprise Funding Program (PUMK).
Helping the agricultural sector is also one of PT Timah Tbk's efforts to support food independence in the company's operational areas.
Not only supporting agricultural facilities and infrastructure for farmer groups, PT Timah Tbk also supports capital for farmer groups through the PUMK program. Agricultural business actors also often take advantage of PT Timah Tbk's PUMK program to develop their businesses.
One of PT Timah Tbk's fostered partners in the agricultural sector which received capital support from members of the MIND ID mining industry holding such as the Tani Agro Jaya Kundur group.
As previously reported, the Agro Jaya Kundur Farmers Group planted various types of horticultural plants to meet the community's vegetable needs. However, they are constrained in terms of capital to run their agricultural business.
"As Group Leader, I am trying to find a solution to survive and develop this business. Thank God, I got information from fellow traders in the market about the partnership program from PT Timah Tbk," said group chairman Agus Salim, quoted in previous news.
Agus Salim said that after becoming a partner with PT Timah Tbk, their group began to develop. Moreover, currently, market demand has started to normalize.
"So far the Tani Agro Jaya Kundur group has been able to meet market demand. All thanks to the injection of funds from PT Timah through its partnership program. So that the obstacles of the Tani Agro Jaya Kundur members can be overcome," he said.
Apart from supporting capital for business actors in the agricultural sector, PT Timah Tbk also provides facilities and infrastructure assistance for farmer groups and provides training.
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.
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 increasing agricultural productivity is important in order to reduce the level of dependence.
Chairman of Gapoktan Sinar Baru, Amir Mukimin, said that they were very happy to receive training in chili cultivation from PT Timah Tbk. The reason is, that this training is essential to broaden their insight.
“Hopefully with this training, we will know more about how to plant and care for chilies 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. (*)
