Keep Productive in the Middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Two Farmer Groups Harvest 100 Tons of Rice

The Covid-19 pandemic has not dampened the enthusiasm of the farmers who are members of the Projasam Farmers Group and the Maju Bersama Farmer Group.  The two farmer groups from Sepaso and Sepaso Timur Village, Bengalon District, on Monday (07/09/20), succeeded in harvesting rice on their 25 hectares of land.

From the harvest that coincided with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, they were able to produce up to 100 tons of rice.  This result was achieved as a result of the hard work of the farmer groups, plus government support, in this case the Technical Implementation Unit for Agricultural, Animal Husbandry and Plantation Extension (UPT-P4), Bengalon District, as well as PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) and the Bengalon Community Relations Forum (FCRB).

The harvest event was attended directly by the East Kutai Regional Secretary, Drs.  Irawansyah M.Si, a number of Heads of Services, SKPD, Head of Bengalon District, KPC management and contractors, as well as Village Heads and Agricultural Extension Officers.

Irawansyah in his speech admitted that he was optimistic that East Kutai could become a food producer for East Kalimantan, including later if the State Capital really moved to East Kalimantan.  This optimism emerged after seeing the enthusiasm and collaboration that existed in the Bengalon region.

“I am optimistic that East Kutai will contribute to the need for rice and other agricultural products for East Kalimantan in the future, because if the capital city of the country moves to East Kalimantan, of course East Kutai will become one of the buffer areas for the economy, agriculture, and industry,” said Irawansyah.

Because of that, the Regional Secretary of Irawansyah said the government would continue to support the farmers in East Kutai, so that the dream of realizing East Kutai as a food producer could be realized.  “Therefore, we hope that the Department of Agriculture and companies will continue to help farmer groups, so that East Kutai can become a food producer for East Kalimantan,” said Irawansyah.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Bengalon Community Relations and Development (BCRD) KPC Denny Pratama said, the key to the success of the two farmer groups that successfully harvested during the Covid-19 pandemic season was collaboration.  So far, the collaboration has been well established between the government, farmer groups, and KPC which oversee contractors in the FCRB.

Because of that Denny hopes, through the harvest event coupled with the workshop, it can increase the initiative and commitment of various parties, so that the program can synergize with go and commitment of farmer groups can be in synergy with local government policies and KPC’s CSR program,” said Denny,

According to Denny, KPC has been assisting Projasam and Maju Bersama farmer groups for a long time.  It takes the form of technical assistance for cultivation, assistance for agricultural production facilities, and assistance for agricultural infrastructure development.  Assistance for agricultural production facilities were in the form of rice seeds, fertilizers, dolomite lime, and farmer partner assistance.  Also agricultural tools assistance such as hand tractor, power thresher, and water pump. (*)