JAYAPURA – The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) has realized a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program in Papua by distributing tens of thousands of seeds of milkfish, catfish, laying hens, motorcycles and other supporting items as its assistance to economically empower the local people. The assistance was delivered during a ceremony on 19 December 2023 through a number of local foundations.
Karel Yarangga, Plantation Division Head at Papua’s Agriculture Service, who represented Papua Governor in attending the ceremony, expressed his hope that GAPKI will collaborate with the local government to educate the local people on palm oil industry. “It’s because the local people here have not yet had a good perception about the palm oil. But Papua is also worthy of being managed as an investment value,” he said
During the occasion, GAPKI Chairman Eddy Martono said that due to the high demand of foods in Papua, eggs, catfish, and milkfish have to be supplied from other provinces.
“The three commodities are the source of animal protein badly needed by the people in Papua. We hope this assistance can help the economic activities of these foundations and in providing the animal protein for the local people in the long term,” said Eddy Martono.
The big market opportunity and the need to increase the supply of protein has encouraged GAPKI to provide assistances for the general public through productive and fruitful activities. The assistances consist of 5,000 seeds of catfish and feeds to Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) of Latifa Mubarokah Arso 4, and 5,000 seeds of milkfish and feeds to Pesantren Hidayatullah Holtekam, chicken farming packages (each package consists of 1,000 laying hens, feeds and coops) to Pesantren Nurul Anwar Sentani and Yayasan Laskar Kristus (Panti Asuhan Kanaan Jaya). In addition to that, GAPKI also donated a motorcycle for transportation.
“This isn’t much, but we hope it can serve as a trigger for these foundations to further develop their businesses to a larger scale,” said Eddy Martono.
Besides the plantation division head, the ceremony to deliver the assistance was also attended by members of GAPKI’s Central Executive Board, representatives of GAPKI’s Papua regional office, and members of the executive boards of Yayasan Laskar Kristus Kampung Dosay, Pesantren Hidayatullah Holtekam, Pesantren Latifa Mubarokah Arso 4, and Pesantren Nurul Anwar Sentasi.
The Head of Yayasan (Foundation) Laskar Kristus expressed his appreciation over GAPKI’s deep concern and care in helping children who come from conflict areas in Papua. He said that there are still a lot needed to be done to improve public welfare in Papua. He also stated that the assistance is the first to be given by private companies to the foundations. (*)
