Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel –
The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) focuses on encouraging increased productivity and development of the sugar industry, especially through an integrated concept with sugarcane plantations, both in highland and swamp areas. This step is taken to accelerate the fulfillment of the increasing need for sugar both to meet the needs of the community and for raw materials for a number of industrial user sectors.
“Indonesia has the potential to develop sugarcane plantations on swamp land. The plantation located in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra, is the first plantation in Indonesia located on swamp land. This plantation has been developed by PT Pratama Nusantara Sakti (PT PNS) since 2009,” said Director General of Agro Industry of the Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika in Jakarta, Thursday (18/5).
The Ministry of Industry appreciates the efforts and success achieved by PT PNS in developing an integrated sugar industry with sugarcane plantations on swamp land. Some time ago, the Director General of Agro Industry paid a working visit to PT PNS in OKI, South Sumatra.
PT PNS planted sugarcane for the first time in 2013, and until 2022 has planted 11,400 hectares including a partnership program of 211 hectares involving no less than 133 households. Sugarcane crops on swamp land turned out to be above the average productivity of the national sugarcane crop, reaching 100 tons / ha.
PT PNS has completed the construction of a sugar factory with a capacity of 6,000 tons cane per day (TCD) and commissioning in 2020. Commercial sugar production from sugarcane crops begins in 2021, PT PNS is ready to increase investment to increase milling capacity to 12,000 TCD with efforts to open new land and develop sugarcane planting partnerships to 25,000 Ha.
“PT PNS is a pioneer company that has transformed the use of swamp land into productive sugarcane plantations in Indonesia, where PT PNS has succeeded in converting unproductive swamp land (marginal land) into productive land for sugarcane cultivation,” said Putu.
According to him, the business of utilizing swamp land as sugar cane production land still faces several obstacles that cause the cost of production (HPP) of sugar to be high, such as high transportation costs for transportation of facilities and infrastructure including equipment, fertilizers, and coal.
“In addition, it is difficult to obtain plantation labor both in terms of quantity and quality, as well as difficulties in mechanizing agriculture due to the type of marine clay soil which is difficult to mobilize machinery and equipment,” said PT PNS Operations Director Deni Gunawan.
Meanwhile, Director of Business Support of PT PNS, Isman Hariyanto confirmed that transportation facilities are one of the main supports in increasing the competitiveness of PT PNS sugar products.
“Currently, access to the Kayu Agung Toll Road from Gajah Mati Reservoir Hamlet, outside the PT PNS area is around 225 KM, most of which has been built through the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) of the OKI Regency Government, it is hoped that the construction of the remaining roads can be continued to improve access and ease of transportation for both the community and industry,” said Isman.
PT PNS is committed to supporting the government program to become a role model in utilizing swamp land into sugarcane plantations. Referring to the Government’s statement at the time of PT PNS’s first harvest in 2019, the area of swamp areas throughout the country is around 21 million hectares with a plantable or cultivable area of around 8-10 million ha. Meanwhile, to meet national sugar needs, only 1 million ha of swamp land is needed for sugarcane cultivation.
