press release training villages on non-burning land clearing management

PT CPI and BRG partnership

Pekanbaru, October 23, 2020 – PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia (PT CPI) and the Peat Restoration Board, or Badan Restorasi Gambut (BRG), are bringing non-burning land clearing management, or Pengelolaan Lahan Tanpa Bakar (PLTB), to 10 villages in the Siak and Rokan Hilir districts of Riau. Through this program, the local community will be trained and assisted in practicing peat land clearing without using fire, an environmentally friendly agricultural cultivation technique.

The PLTB program inauguration was held at Sintong Pusaka Village in Rokan Hilir on October 23. Attendees included Dr. Ir. Suwignya Utama, head of the BRG Education Work and Socialization Group, and Safei Syafri, External Relations Senior Manager SKK Migas. A representative from Riau’s environmental agency and Sukamto Tamrin, GM Corporate Affairs Asset for PT CPI, also attended.

“PT CPI would like to proactively support the government’s program to decrease forest and land fire,” Sukamto said in his greetings. “The PLTB program will be beneficial for the environment and will strengthen the local economy through village agriculture production, which is especially important in this pandemic period.”

In addition, Dr. Suwignya commented that “This program will help peat land farmers to manage the land in an environmentally friendly manner. Farmers are pushed not to clear land by burning. Currently there are 265 villages practicing PLTB in Indonesia.”

For the 10 Riau villages supported by PT CPI, the program started with training from October 22 through October 26. Topics covered included PLTB concepts, local land and plant conditions, cropland preparation (using a demonstration plot), mulch use, seed planting, and pest infestation protection. After the training, assistance and monitoring are provided at each village. Farmers will be assisted by Cakra Consulting, an implementing partner of the program. All 10 villages will also receive a multifunction chopper/crusher, water pump, grass slasher, and hoe.

This PLTB program is part of PT CPI’s social investment in the environmental sector. Additional PT CPI programs in this category are Sumatran elephant preservation; partnership waste banks in Pekanbaru, Bengkalis and Siak with Universitas Lancang Kuning; and mangrove conservation with Archipelago Nature Conservation Foundation, or Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN).