
Photo: The friendly atmosphere between TSE and SMKN/SMK Negeri 4 Boven Digoel (Boven Digoel Public Vocational High) reps
BOVEN DIGOEL – Tunas Sawa Erma Group (TSE Group) celebrated the first harvest of its pilot cropland in Jair District, Boven Digoel, South Papua on Friday (3/24). Also attending were the headmaster and teachers from SMK Negeri 4 Boven Digoel – a vocational high school that offers agribusiness and agrotechnology programs for the Boven Digoel community.
For three months, TSE employees and local residents worked closely to plant and tend the site’s vegetable and fruit saplings, tracking their growth day in and day out until the picking season arrived. The first variety to come out was cucumbers, with half of the yields given to the school for free and another half sold to TSE employees. Using the income, local farmers plan to buy more seeds, creating a sustainable planting system in the process.
“Today, we held our first harvest at TSE Group’s pilot garden and reaped cucumbers weighing 35 kilograms,” said SMKN 4 Boven Digoel’s headmaster Bambang Sulistiyo. He hoped to continue working with the company on growing more types of vegetables.
Photo: Harvesting and weighing cucumbers from the pilot cropland
This ceremony was a crucial moment to show how collaboration can help Papuans start their own gardens and find economic independence.
“This event is our way of providing impactful education for both the school and the community. We’re really counting on the participation of the local people as they can drive [the local economy] with what they plant and harvest,” said TSE Group’s PR Assistant Manager, Hasanuddin.
Tunas Sawa Erma Group (TSE Group) is a palm oil plantation company in South Papua. TSE Group is committed to practicing sustainable palm oil governance and keeps innovating in an effort to prioritize fulfilling its environmental and social responsibility. (Besse/TSE)