The shared success of Sukanto Tanoto’s RGE group company, Asian Agri, and 29 000 smallholder farmers

Asian Agri is, today, one of the world’s largest palm oil producers, and without a doubt, Indonesia’s leader in palm oil production and sustainable practices. Since its founding in 1979 by company chairman and entrepreneur, Sukanto Tanoto, Asian Agri has accumulated and manages in excess of 100 000 hectares of land, comprised of 27 sustainably managed plantations.

During the past four decades, and in keeping with the philosophy of the Tanoto Foundation to empower every person to realize his or her potential, Asian Agri’s close partnership with smallholder farmers has brought great success to this company, who collectively manage another 60 000 hectares of palm oil plantations.

Together, these smallholder farming partners and Asian Agri, under the successful guidance of leader, Mr. Sukanto Tanoto, play an integral part in the company’s success story.

Asian Agri distributes more than IDR 2,6 billion

As a token of both Mr. Tanoto and Asian Agri’s commitment to their long-lasting relationship and committed partnership with local smallholder partners, Asian Agri recently distributed IDR 2.62 billion among six representatives of the Associate of Unit Co-operatives (KUD), which in itself, consists of 29 000 individual farmers.

With the encouragement of Mr. Sukanto Tanoto and the technical, agricultural assistance of those at Asian Agri, all six KUDs located in the provinces of Riau and Jambi have managed to obtain certifications in the field of sustainable palm oil production.

The distribution ceremony was held on 21 December 2016, which saw Indonesia’s Minister for Trade, Enggartiasto Lukita, and Director of Asian Agri, Freddy Widjaya hosting the proceedings who conveyed his praise to the individual farmers saying; ‘This premium sharing from 2015 sales is really a tribute and appreciation to the smallholder growers who have implemented sustainable plantation practices. Without their partnership over the years, Asian Agri could not have become the industry leader that it is today.’ – Freddy Widjaya.

Enggartiasto Lukita, also expressed a warm welcome to the partnership between Asian Agri and its smallholders; ‘The type of relationship between Asian Agri and the smallholders will have a positive impact on the quality of palm oil from Indonesia. Through the efforts at helping the plasma growers achieve international certifications, we are showing our commitment to maintaining a sustainable agricultural sector in Indonesia.’

To keep up-to-date on Asian Agri’s many sustainability and social responsibility initiatives, we invite you to follow its founder and driving force behind these projects and the RGE group of companies, Sukanto Tanoto on: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or LinkedIn.