Kaltim Prima Coal

The target of expanding the orange growing area to 100 Ha was accomplished, and the orange seeds needed have been successfully produced locally by the local community under the supervision of the East Kalimantan Seed Certification Center and the Tlekung East Java Center for Research on Oranges and Sub-tropical Plants. A total of 40,038 seeds were distributed to 322 farmers organized under 31 farmer groups.

To prepare the farmers for competition at the market KPC managed to initiate the development of a Standard Operating Procedure for Sweet Orange, made in conjunction with the farmers, the East Kalimantan Province and East Kutai Regency’s agricultural departments. The SOP will be finalised in 2008.

According to KPC’s records only around 40% of the durian development projects in Rantau Pulung and Bengalon managed to grow well. However that growth produced good product and the trees have entered a productive phase. It is estimated that by mid-2008, some of the durian farmers will take their first harvest. The low percentage of well maintained durian trees was attributed to the fact that some of the durian farmers switched their activities to the trade sector or were employed by other companies during the trial period, which left many of the plantations uncultivated. To motivate the farmers into maintaining existing durian trees KPC provided a number of support mechanisms such as training and fertilizer donation.

The development of cacao cultivation in three areas, namely Bengalon, Sengata and Rantau Pulung, continued in cooperation with the Indonesia Coffee and Cacao Research Institute. Based on the recommendations from the Research Institute, KPC and the farmers have built cacao demo plots in Sengata and Rantau Pulung as a learning facility for the farmers and assisting staff. The demonstration plots will also function as visitor plots. Assistance is focused on improving the implementation of the Research Institute’s recommendations at the farmer level, including trimming, fertilizing, controlling weeds and sanitation (P3S), black ants cultivation, shelter reparation, harvesting techniques, and boar population control.

Another commodity developed in 2007 was the cultivation of the patchouli plant. This program is part of the environmental impact management program, dedicated to farmer groups whose lands were cleared for the purpose of mine expansion. The demo plot, supported financially by KPC and developed by the farmer groups organized under the Bukit Subur Mandiri Cooperative showed good results. Cooperation for further improvements was continued by involving the Bureau for the Research of Spice and Medicinal Plants as technical experts. To the end of 2007, 135,347 seeds, or more or less 8 ha have been distributed by the Bukit Subur Mandiri Cooperative as the operating institution for the program.

In addition to agricultural and plantation commodities, KPC also facilitated the development of fresh water fisheries. The facilities provided by KPC include comparative studies with successful farming groups, fish food and seed donation, and training to make fish foods to reduce dependency on external products which are difficult to obtain in Sengata and will reduce production costs.

Assistance for the development of brackish water aquaculture in Muara Bengalon is still continuing, and the physical rehabilitation work of the fishponds has completed 60 ha of the total planned area of 80 ha. Technical assistance was continued in cooperation with the Aquaculture Center for Brackish Water (Balai Besar Budidaya Air Payau). However, various social problems that occurred among the farmers have affected the speed of the process in achieving the expected results.

Activities to improve the capacity and knowledge of farmers in particular, and the community in general in the agriculture and environment sectors were continued through the BPP-LITK (Research and Demonstration Ground for Conservational Farming). The BPP-LITK has organized and presented a number of meetings, training sessions and visits from various parties, either related to the agriculture sector or within the framework of environmental socialization activities for students at the kindergarten and elementary school levels.

In December 2007 KPC and YPM-KT held a Balinese Cow Program. This program was conducted to help improve the community standard of living and income, particularly in the South Sengata Region.