Press Release: KEM launches food security programme
Tuesday, March 4 2003 - 11:09 AM WIB
Kutai Barat, March 4, 2003 - PT Kelian Equatorial Mining (KEM) food security programme, which is part of its sustainable mine closure solutions direction, celebrated harvesting the first paddy crop in Balok Asa on Tuesday (3/3).
?Rio Tinto is committed to working in partnership with local communities to help achieve sustainable solutions which improve living standards. A partnership between the company, the government and the community is necessary if capacity building is to deliver long term benefits,? said David Klingner, Head of Exploration, Rio Tinto Group, who attended the harvest ceremony.
Sustainable mine closure solutions
President Director of PT KEM, Charlie Lenegan, explained that KEM would cease operations in December 2004 when KEM runs out of ore. Since 1990 KEM has provided significant benefits to communities through employment, local contracts, community projects, educational support and other activities.
?In recent years KEM has focused more on the development of community programmes which will provide sustainable solutions to communities after KEM has closed. We believe that Self Help Groups provide the best way to achieve this goal and we have assisted in the development of more than 80 self help groups over the past few years. This food security project is an outstanding example of how a self help group can develop skills and work together to achieve challenging goals,? he said.
Better planting techniques
The harvest is held on a 4.5 ha community land that has been cultivated using a better farming practices introduced by Rio Tinto Foundation. These include lime addition to control soil pH level, land cultivation and seed selection. It is estimated that these better-planting farming will improve rice production by four times. The production is estimated at 1.8 tonnes of dry paddy or 1.2 tonnes of rice per hectare. While traditional farming will only produce 500 kgs dry paddy or 330 kgs of rice.
?Under our Food Security Programme that has been endorsed by Mine Closure Steering Committee, we will work in partnership with community to develop 420 hectares of land in 28 villages in 3 sub-districts in Kutai Barat namely Linggang Bigung, Long Iram, Barong Tongkok for a 3-year period,? said Charlie Lenegan.
?We will provide the farmers with technical, organisational and agricultural supplies assistance to enable the farmers to develop sustainable farming business,? said Charlie Lenegan.
Kelian operates a gold mine with an annual output of 14 tonnes of gold and 12 tonnes of silver. Kelian employs about 900 permanent employees and 1000 contractors, mostly locally recruited. Kelian spends about Rp15 billion annually on community development programmes. (*)
For more information please contact: Kasan Mulyono, Superintendent Communications; Tel: +(62-542) 765861 ext. 265; Fax: +(62-542) 761818.