Farmers Praise Kirana Megatara’s Continual Support

With fourteen of Kirana Megatara Group’s sixteen factories in Sumatra, the island has become the heart of the Group’s crumb-rubber production in the Indonesian archipelago. The Kirana Megatara Group (Kirana) has partnered with thousands of rubber farmers and hundreds of farmer groups who sell their extracted natural rubber to the factories for cash and other benefits. The theoretically simple and transactional relationship between Kirana and the farmers is far beyond what it appears.

In recent memory, along with the “fair prices” the company offers for the farmers’ processed rubber, Kirana has provided food aids and scholarships to support and ease the economic burden of the families of its direct farmer suppliers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it has been providing training, aid packages, and other programs aimed at improving the farmers’ productivity over the past decades.

“My group of farmers and I have been partners with Kirana for decades. I continue to partner with [Kirana’s] PT Djambi Waras [factory] because of all their support for me. Whether it was the replanting programs, the provided rubber coagulants, the subsidy for fertilizers, or the scholarships for my children, [Kirana] has continually supported me throughout my time as a rubber farmer,” expressed Mr. Sumardi, the leader of the Sumber Rezeki farmer group in Jambi, Indonesia.

Sumardi added, “After I partnered with Kirana and their Djambi Waras factory, I felt my life was more settled and secured. Their selling procedure was structured, but they were fair and reasonable. It became easy for our members and me because we knew what to expect when we brought our rubber to the factory, and we were always prepared for the details they would ask for our rubber. That settled me as a supplier to a factory, knowing what we were receiving beforehand. Other factories aren’t necessarily the same.”

Sumardi and his Sumber Rezeki group, a rubber farming group partnered with Kirana since 1993 and a regular seller to PT Djambi Waras, continue to reap the benefits of their partnership and “hope Kirana can continue these programs for [them] and [their] families.”

The crumb rubber company does not merely provide their affiliated farmers with financial subsidies and essential equipment, but also offers them regular training for sustainable and improved quality rubber production. Cooperating with and setting up training centers, engaging in frequent meetings and presentations with farmer groups, Kirana aims to teach its farmers to produce the best quality rubber with sustainable practices.

“The most important thing that Kirana and Djambi Waras provided us was the knowledge they shed onto us. Before we partnered with Kirana, we did the things we thought were done and how things have always been done,” stated Pak Amin Duren, a member of the Sejahtera farmer group in Jambi, Indonesia.

Duren and his farmer compatriots admitted to falling victim to the timeworn misconception that the more trees per unit area, the more latex for rubber production. Yet the narrow spacing between trees only causes more competition for soil nutrients and sunlight, resulting in a sub-optimal latex yield.

“To this day, many of us have 1000 trees per hectare,” added Duren. This number is far above the ideal density of between 450 – 600 trees per hectare with regular spacing between trees.

Kirana’s repeated training programs and meetings with farmers help confute common farming misconceptions and teach the farmers the correct practices to maximize their income and for the company to receive the best quality rubber.

“The only thing I ask is that [Kirana Megatara] keep giving us the attention and supporting us throughout our journey as rubber farmers,” concluded Duren.