Yogyakarta – In order to strengthen sustainable sugarcane partnerships, PTPN III (Persero) Plantation Holding in collaboration with PT LPP Agro Nusantara held a Competency Improvement Training for Sugarcane Farmers Assisted by PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara. The activity was held at the Convention Hall of PT LPP Agro Nusantara, Yogyakarta, on Monday-Thursday (26-29/02/2024). The training was attended by 40 sugarcane farmers assisted by PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara (SGN) and opened by the Director of Production and Development of Holding PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (Persero), Mahmudi, accompanied by the Director of PT LPP Agro Nusantara, Pranoto Hadi Raharjo. “To realize the ideal of sugar self-sufficiency requires synergy from sugarcane farmers, companies, and related plantation agencies,” said Mahmudi.
This program is one of PTPN III (Persero)’s Environmental Social Responsibility (CSR) programs with the target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, namely “Partnership to Achieve Goals”. With the hope that PTPN III (Persero) and its partners can make a positive contribution to sustainable development, and create a positive impact not only in the economic realm, but also in social and environmental aspects. “Thus, this program not only provides short-term benefits for sugarcane farmers, but also supports a long-term sustainability vision that embraces the principles of sustainable development,” Mahmudi added. This activity is one of the important coaching and development programs for smallholder sugarcane farmers. Because to achieve good results, intensive coaching and development is needed, in order to realize the sustainability of a plantation business. “The company has the responsibility to provide access to knowledge, be it cultivation techniques, institutional strengthening, and partnerships through training and development in order to create community welfare, especially smallholder sugarcane business actors, in this case partner sugarcane farmers,” said Mahmudi.
PTPN III (Persero) continues to optimize the achievement of company production through the development program of smallholder sugarcane farmers, with a joint partnership pattern in synergistic plantation development and encourages the achievement of optimal productivity. So that it can maintain the sustainability of the supply chain and the sustainability of a plantation business. The partnership forum, continued Mahmudi, is an effort to achieve a common goal between smallholder farmers and plantation companies in order to realize a sustainable sugarcane industry. “Partnership is an important element in the sugarcane industry, because it is related to aspects of business competition and the sustainability of the sugarcane industry in the future, and is a basic key to strength in increasing competitiveness,” he added.
During the training activities, the partner sugarcane farmers were equipped with knowledge from the hard aspects of competence, namely technical standards of sugarcane cultivation and mechanization. While the soft aspects of competence, among others, are related to social communication partnerships in the sugarcane industry, as well as building an entrepreneurial spirit and improving people’s sugarcane institutions. In closing, the activity was filled with an outing class to build the character development of sugarcane farmers. All training materials were delivered by Subject Matter Experts of PT LPP Agro Nusantara who have experience in their fields. This training is expected to increase farmers’ knowledge, skills and experience in cultivating good sugarcane plants, improve positive character and ability to partner with stakeholders, and strengthen partnerships between companies and smallholder sugarcane farmers, in order to support the sustainability of the national sugarcane industry.
