13 -14 June 2023
Jl. R. Sukamto No 3, 8 Ilir, Kec Team Ilir, Il, Palembang City, South Sumatra 30164
On the 13th of June 2023, we departed Changi Airport for a flight to Jakarta enroute to Palembang this morning. Upon arrival on the first day, we met up with Pak Gomez, who gave us a summary of Palembang and some political background of the Regent and his family and his popularity in Ogan Ilir, which is a county under the province of Palembang.
The first day meeting was held between Kinross and Pak Andrew, his Director and later over dinner with his business partner, Pak Wijaya. Kinross was represented by its Director and CEO, Dennis Ng as well as Walden Sun Shao Yao, an intern from SMU attached to Kinross for two months starting 1 June 2023.
The first day meeting was a prelude to a meeting with the Regent of Palembang the next day to explore how Kinross can help the city of Palembang on improving the soil for agriculture. The meeting is also a brief on where Pak Andrew’s plantation for bananas are and where the future plantation for pineapples would be. The meeting ended with Pak Andrew Gomez expressing keen interest to work with Kinross on improving his own plantation land such that they can export their crops to better markets like Japan.
On the second day, we had the opportunity to meet with the Regent of Ilir, His Excellency, Panca Wijaya Akbar as well as the person in charge of all agriculture matters, Pak Abin.
After hearing about our products and how it helps soil, the Regent of Ilir was keen to give us some land for trials on different crops. We asked him for an MOU to start the process and he tasked Pak Abin to prepare the MOU
We arrived at Pak Andrew Gomez’s office at 5.30 pm. Pak Gomez was first introduced to us by a friend in Singapore. Pak Gomez introduced us to his Business Development Director, Pak Bagus Riansyah representing their agricultural business through a company called Jimagro Inter Mulya.
At Pak Gomez's office
Pak Gomez gave us a brief of our agenda for Wednesday 14 June. He first explained the area of his plantation near the airport and another plantation which he is planning to grow pineapples, about two hours from the city.
Pak Andrew Gomez also briefed us on the nearby plantations near the city and that Palembang is well known for agriculture and in close proximity to Singapore. He explained that Palembang could be a source of food security for Singapore.
Meeting with Pak Gomez
Pak Andrew mentioned that he has arranged for us to have a meeting with the Regent of Palembang tomorrow morning at 8 am and hence we needed to be picked up from the hotel at 6.15 am in order to make the meeting at 8 am. Pak Andrew said the Regent of Ogan Ilir County, Panca Wijaya Akbar, who is one level below the Governor of Palembang is interested to see what we can do for Ogan Ilir County with our products.
Regent of Ogan Ilir, Panca Wijaya Akbar
We had a meeting with one of the Directors in charge of the Plantation business of Pak Andrew Gomez. After the meeting Pak Gomez and his Director brought us for dinner where we met Pak Gomez’s partner for the banana plantation, Pak Adrian Pratama Wijaya. During the dinner I had the opportunity to explain to Pak Wijaya about how our microbes help to regenerate soil.
The next day, we headed to the official residence and office of the Regent of Ogan Ilir for a meeting with him.
[ OGAN Ilir, SUMEKS.CO - The Government of Ogan Ilir Regency through the People's Welfare Section (Kesra) of Ogan Ilir Regency, is holding a Ramadan Safari for the Regent and Deputy Regent of Ogan Ilir.
According to the Head of the Public Welfare Section of the Ogan Ilir Regency Regional Secretariat, Ahmad Albatani, the Ogan Ilir Regency Government's Ramadan Safari will begin tonight by the Ogan Ilir Regent, Panca Wijaya Akbar, at the M Idris Mosque, Redho Housing, Tanjung Seteko Village, Indralaya. ]
We explained to the Regent of Ogn Ilir, His Excellency, Panca Wijaya Akbar what Kinross does in terms of Soil Regeneration. We elaborated on our microbial technology especially in treatment of diseased soil and badly depleted soil. The Regent was interested for us to do trials for different crops to see the beneficial results. The Regent’s own family owns quite a lot of agricultural land as well. In attendance was Pak Abin sitting on the Regent’s left who is the person in charge of all agricultural matters in Ogan Ilir county. At the end of the discussion lasting over an hour, we presented to the Regent an autographed copy of the book “What Your Food Ate” written by one of Kinross’s advisors, Professor David R. Montgomery from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Meeting with the Regent of Ogan Ilir, His Excellency, Panca Wijaya Akbar as well as the agricultural minister in charge, Pak Abin
After the presentation of the book, Dennis brought up the subject of an MOU with the County of Ogan Ilir. The Regent agreed to work on an MOU and he tasked Pak Abin to work on a draft of an MOU with Kinross for the trial of our products on land identified by them and to test our products on various crops.
Presentation of the an autographed copy of the book “What Your Food Ate”
Pak Abin is the man in charge of all agriculture in the county of Ogan Ilir. He has been tasked by the Regent to work with Kinross on the MOU and the parameters for the MOU in the form of the tests required and the protocols for the tests.
In some parts of the pineapple plantation, we could see Jackfruit trees planted in between the pineapples. The Jackfruit trees are useful not just for the fruit but their leaves can also be eaten as a popular vegetable in Indonesia.
Pak Abin and some plantation
Visiting the pineapple plantation owned by the Regent’s family. Some of the pineapple leaves are sold to be used as fibre for textile. The fruit which is a little more sourish compared to Philippines banana is mainly used as a salad and for soup. The pineapples are usually harvested after eight months. Thereafter it will grow for another harvest before they are pulled out and regrown.
Pineapple from the second harvest cycle
Pak Andrew Gomez, Dennis, Pak Abin and Pak Bagus
Near the pineapple plantation is a meat chicken farm which is a JV between the Regent and Jaffap, a large Indonesian company. This chicken farm rears about 20,000 chickens
Chicken farm behind the plantation
The nursery for the banana plants. The seedlings are transferred to the nursery and then put into the individual pots.
Pak Bagus and Pak Gomez giving us a tour of the banana nursery
The banana nursery is marked out into Blocks for easy monitoring
We are told they use chicken manure as a compost and they add sawdust into the chicken manure and mix it with microorganisms. There did not seem to be a sheltered area where they mix the compost and the compost does not to be of good quality.
Compost
We then visited a banana plantation near the airport managed by Pak Andrew Gomez. The trees are stunted and not growing well with most of them not bearing fruits. The soil seems to be heavily depleted of nutrients. On close examination, the soil looks clayish and has the smell of clay.
The banana trees are short - around a human's height, and the soil has clayish properties
The bananas in this plantation are not of the Cavendish banana variety so it is unlikely they are affected by the Fusarium disease. Most likely it is the poor management of the soil using poor organic fertilizer.
Nutrient-depleted soil
Soil test of the banana plants were sent for lab test on the advice of some specialists from the Agricultural university from Bogor, the top Agriculture University in Indonesia
Visiting a Palm Sugar Plantation belonging to the Regent’s family. Palm sugar is more expensive than cane sugar and is widely used for deserts in this part of Southeast Asia.
Comments