Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The city of Karawang in West Java is known as an industrial city. However, not many people know, Karawang is one of the largest agricultural sources in Indonesia.
The geographical location, weather and adequate land contours make many plants or agricultural products grow well in this region. Karawang is not only surrounded by vast rice fields or rice farming as the main commodity for its residents, but also plants that usually grow in highland areas.
One of them is embedded in a village located at the very top of the Tegalwaru Mountains, Karawang. Leading commodities in the form of coffee, durian, avocado mangosteen, petai, jengkol, and bananas have helped the economy of the surrounding community.
The village is “Mekarbuana Village” which is a BRILiaN Village assisted by BRI since 2021 and has the potential for this superior commodity. Mekarbuana Village has thousands of banana trees, this village produces an average of 10-14 tons of bananas per day.
The results of this abundant commodity have been able to help the economy of the people in their villages. Apart from that, Mekarbuana Village is also developing other commodities which are expected to become the village’s superior product, namely Durian.
Outside of agriculture, Mekarbuana Village has great potential in developing other livelihoods. For example, there are dozens to dozens of tourist destinations ranging from culinary, natural tourism, to camping areas.
No wonder this village is better known as an Agro-Ecotourism village. BRI President Director Sunarso revealed that BRI Menanam is a concrete manifestation and continuous effort of BRI to realize ESG principles and support the achievement of Indonesia’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030.
This is stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 59 of 2017 concerning Implementation of the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals on July 4 2017. Sunarso added that the BRI Menanam program is expected to be a locomotive from economic, environmental and social aspects for the community. We also hope that the community and customers will commit to planting and caring for the seeds we provide.
It is hoped that this program will continue to be ongoing and in the future will be even more effective in absorbing carbon.
“Meanwhile, in the city, we created clusters. It turns out that one household’s vegetable needs can be met by planting them in planting media (urban farming), so this is an effort to green urban areas, including alleys and even villages, to be very open,” ” explained Sunarso in an official statement, Wednesday (8/11/2023).
Meanwhile, the Head of Mekarbuana Village, Jaji Maryono, said that currently approximately 2,000 durian trees have been planted in the Mekarbuana Village area.
“BRI helps our community a lot, especially in terms of capital, for example yesterday our community needed durian seeds, and through BRI Menanam we were given assistance in the form of providing the seeds,” said Jaji.
BRI through the BRI Menanam program pays attention to the superior potential developed in prospective planting locations and adapts it to the agroecological conditions of the region. Providing seeds that are suitable for the superior commodities being developed and their compatibility with local agroecology is expected to be able to provide a multiplying effect which will not only be able to improve the economy through commodity production, but will also be an effort to protect the environment with carbon that will be absorbed when the tree seeds grow well.
BRI’s assistance is not only through the BRI Planting program, but also in terms of capital, training from seeding, cultivation, harvesting, post-harvest, to processing the results which are part of the BRILian Village empowerment program. From here, the skills and knowledge of human resources in this village also develop so that they can innovate even better.
“Our hope is that apart from being able to produce the best products, these businesses can also absorb labor from our local villages. So from bananas, durian and coffee, we can also get income and absorb labor too,” he said.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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