Kendari transmigrants to join cashew nut estate project

Kendari transmigrants to join cashew nut estate project

JAKARTA (JP): PT Agromete Pranatani will soon develop cashew
nut plantations in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, under a small-
holder nucleus estate scheme, involving 350 transmigrant families
a company executive said.

Agromete Director, M. Budiarjo, said the first group of
transmigrants, consisting of 70 families, would be settled in the
area next week.

He was quoted by Antara as saying the cashew nut plantations
had been developed since 1993, on 2,000 hectares of land in
Tinanggea district, 100 kilometers South of Kendari.

"Agromete has so far planted and harvested 1,300 hectares of
the area," Budiarjo said.

He claimed the nucleus estate would be the first in the
country to involve transmigrants, and the first project where
resettlers would be provided with plantations ready for
harvesting.

He said Agromete had allocated 1,000 hectares of the
plantations for the transmigrants, and each family would receive
about three hectares.

Each transmigrant family will be given 5,000 square meters of
land, and a house with a 2,500 square meter garden, Budiarjo
said.

He said the transmigrants had been specially trained to
cultivate cashew nut trees, from seed selection to farming and
harvesting. Agromete would buy the cashew nuts at "reasonable
prices" and process it, he said.

Head of the provincial Plantation Office, Soewondo, said in
the first stage of the project, 250 trees were planted per
hectare. Over a five-year period, the trees would be reduced to
reach an ideal number of 100 to 125 trees a hectare.

He said most local farmers were reluctant to down-size their
plantations, resulting in productivity levels as low as 265
kilograms per hectare.

In comparison, he said, plantations that were well-managed
could produce one ton of cashew nuts per hectare. In India, the
yield could reach two tons a hectare, Soewondo said.

Southeast Sulawesi is now home to 129,500 hectares of cashew
nut plantations, raised by 85,000 transmigrant families.

From this number, 2,350 hectares are old and no longer
productive, and 32,350 hectares cannot yet be harvested. To date,
only 94,800 hectares are harvestable. (pwn)