Developing Value Chains of Agricultural Products
around Peatland Restoration
(Session 2b)
Dharsono Hartono
CEO PT. Rimba Makmur Utama

Katingan Mentaya
Project Overview
The project aims to
reduce carbon emissions,
protect biodiversity and
create sustainable
economic development
opportunities
The project has active
community outreach
programs providing
demonstrable and
measureable benefits to
43,000 people living in 34
village communities
The project contributes
to 9 out of 17 UN
Sustainable
Development Goals
The project is
currently the biggest
Verified Carbon
Standard (VCS)
approved REDD+
project in the world

Project Location
Location
▪ Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
▪ 157,000 hectare concession
▪ Impacting a larger project zone of
305,000 hectares
▪ Estimated emissions reductions of
almost 8 million tCO2e per year
Regional Threat
▪ Peat forest fires in Kalimantan in 2019
have been spewing toxic haze across
south-east Asia, forcing the closure of
schools and airports.
▪ Protecting tropical forest from
deforestation and degradation is critical
to preventing further climate change

Katingan Mentaya Project’s Value Chain
Creating Shared Value at Each Stage of the Value Chain
Sustainable Agriculture and
Community Development
Products People and Planet
Katingan Mentaya Project helps
to create alternative,
sustainable livelihoods for local
communities by providing
expertise and technical
assistance for farmers,
including microfinance,
trainings, and access to market.
Environmentally-sustainable
goods produced by
communities support local
economies, increase income,
reduce poverty, and help
minimize emissions.
Ultimately, by helping
farmers to shift from
environmentally-harmful
economic activities to
sustainable livelihoods, the
Katingan Mentaya Project
creates value for both the
people of Katingan Mentaya
and the planet.

Developing coconut
sugar value chain
▪ Coconut sugar is a traditional, natural
sweetener with a long history in Southeast
Asia
▪ Produced from the sap of cut flower buds of
coconut palm
… Starts with
upskilling and
financing
▪ Katingan Mentaya Project provides training
for farmers to process coconut sugar that
meets market standards
▪ The project also provides financing facilities
that provide farmers with start-up and
working capital

▪ Processing coconut sugar provides more value than only
harvesting the fruit or making copra
▪ Coconut sap is heated to turn into paste
▪ Producers commonly use wood coconut fibre or other
materials as fuel to cook coconut sap
▪ KMP helped to design an energy-efficient stove and
provided it to producers
… And simple processing
… That must meet
product standards
▪ The processing must fulfil certain product
standards in order to meet market demand
▪ If the processing is incomplete, the sugar still
tastes bitter and the paste too hard

KMP also supports
marketing of coconut
palm sugar
▪ KMP links producers to local markets directly and through
online channels
▪ Coconut palm sugar product is targeted to meet the
needs of the local market and demands of corporate
partners
Besides sugar, local
farmers also make other
products from coconut
palm such as virgin
coconut oil and syrup

Thank you