Batangtoru, September 2, 2018 — PT Agincourt Resources, the operator of Martabe Gold Mine, in collaboration with the Agricultural Service Office of South Tapanuli, held another Independent Farming Produce Exhibition (Gelar Karya Tani Mandiri/GKTM) 2018 bearing the theme of “Fulfilling the Farmer’s Hope to Realize Welfare and Food Security” on 1-2 September 2018 at Sopo Daganak, Batangtoru. The activity that aimed at pushing improvement of farmer’s welfare and independence, and food resistance at Batangtoru and Muara Batangtoru was held in form of a seminar and capacity building program for about more than 500 farmers.
Senior Manager Community Pramana Triwahjudi said that 70% of residents of Batangtoru earned a living from farming. Existence of the farmers can no longer be underestimated because they exist as the backbone of national food security. Nevertheless, the success of the farmers cannot be separated from the roles of the stakeholders.
“In the GKTM 2018, we put impression on the significance of role and common perception of related stakeholders such as the regional and local governments, academicians, and other parties. This activity is intended to align the vision of the stakeholders to realize food security, formulate a continuous multi-party partnership strategy, and become an interaction media between the farmers and the stakeholders,” Pramana explained.
The speakers of the seminar that had the theme of “Roles of Stakeholders in Farming Business Chain Strengthening Efforts” came from the Technical Implementation Unit of Seed Monitoring and Certification Agency (BPSB) of Food and Horticulture Plant Office of North Sumatra, the Agriculture Service Office of the Regency of South Tapanuli, PT BISI International Tbk., and the Faculty of Agriculture of Unviersitas Graha Nusantara, Padangsidimpuan, and PT Agincourt Resources.
The farmer capacity building program adopted the theme of “Petani SUPRA (Sukses, Produktif, dan Aktif) /Successful, Productive, and Active Farmers”. A successful farmer means the farmer can implement independence and professionalism scheme. Being productive signifies a skillful farmer in cultivation that supports production. Being active means the farmer’s flexibility in strengthening the network and actively participating in the community.
Meanwhile, the target of this GKTM 2018 is to make efforts to guarantee a continuous farming business chain by continuously improving technology and economy competitiveness, encouraging farming business spirit to improve domestic economy and refreshing of mental and physical conditions of the farmers.
As addition to the farmers of various groups in Batangtoru and Muara Batangtoru, GKTM 2018 also invited Martabe Gold Mine’s partner business groups and the representatives of the farmers group from the Farming Center of the Regency of South Tapanuli, covering those from Batang Angkola, Tana Tombangan, and Sayur Matinggi.
“We always open up vast opportunity to improve capacity of the farmers. This is very important to support the government’s program, which is the capability to show Indonesian strength as one of agrarian countries in the world. Food sovereignty has become a vision of the Indonesian government to realize a continuous development. Achievement of this vision certainly cannot be separated from the roles of every region to support national aspiration which will create overall positive movement,” Pramana ended.
