Planting Trees, Building Lives: Sukanto Tanoto’s APRIL Helps Local Farmers Through Community Development Programme

Sukanto Tanoto is a man who wears many hats. Foremost, he is known as both the chairman and founder of global resource empire, RGE. Into its 50^th year of business, RGE manages some of the biggest companies in the industry such as APRIL, Sateri, and Pacific Oil and Gas. He is also a passionate philanthropist, who dedicates much time and resources to helping others through Tanoto Foundation. Sukanto Tanoto is also widely known for love of community development; his 5Cs approach of creating good for the Community, Country, Climate, Customer, and Company is ubiquitous throughout his companies.

A passion for community development

And it is the passion for community development, for creating shared value, which has been the most lasting trait of all his companies. It is something the billionaire entrepreneur has insisted upon, a nod to the community that has helped him so much. To that end, Sukanto Tanoto’s companies have characteristically been heavily involved in developing the community. APRIL’s Community Development (CD) Programme, rolled out in Indonesia, is one such example.

Indra’s story of success

The CD programme, a hallmark of the pulp and paper giant, is well-received. Through its training and help, the programme benefits many locals in the community. One such person is 32 year-old farmer Indra.

A former port contractor, Indra jumped over to farming a few years back. Starting out with 400 square metres of land, he began growing crops such as chilli, corn, and vegetables. Today, he is leader of a group of farmers in the community, who are guided by APRIL under the CD programme. With APRIL’s help, the farmers were given training on growing healthy crops and managing the business. Furthermore, APRIL also provides the farmers with fertiliser and plant seeds, which helps in producing quality crops. With the group managing to harvest 1.2 tonnes worth of crops, it is safe to say APRIL’s help has been reaping much success.

Ultimately, the farmers are hoping for a better life, something that the higher wages in farming could help them achieve. As Indra said, “This farm income is higher than the others. Of the 20 farmers in our group there are those who have even bought a car.”