Creating sustainable futures: Enhancing agarwood production in West Sumatra

In Padang Laweh, West Sumatra, the Social Forestry Business Group (KUPS) Putra Harapan is striving to create sustainable livelihoods while preserving the local environment. With support of the Strengthen the Roots programme, the members of Putra Harapan attended multiple trainings and built a washing place for agarwood leaves amongst others, enabling them to improve the quality of the agarwood-leaves herbal drink through a more hygienic manufacturing process. 

Header photo: Training on standard operating procedures for production activities and marketing strategies for agarwood leaf herbal drink products (c) KKI Warsi

KUPS Putra Harapan currently has seventeen members (ten women and seven men, incl. five youths). The goal of this community enterprise is to cultivate marketable products from the agarwood trees that are growing in the village forest. The women produce herbal drinks from the leaves and the men extract essential oil from the stem.  

Alternative livelihoods 

The group started ten years ago with the mission to build alternative livelihoods for people who were illegally mining for gold in the forest and river. In the past three years they received financial support from the District Forest Management Unit (KPHL Sijunjung), which was used for the construction of a production house where the drying and distillation machines are housed. The group is also in close contact with the village head (the Wali) about the opportunities for financial support from the village government, especially for training activities. 

Support from Strengthen the Roots 

In the past two years, KUPS Putra Harapan’s progress has been bolstered by support from the Strengthen the Roots project, an initiative of IUCN NL and Wilde Ganzen that in Indonesia, is implemented by IUCN NL partner organisation KKI WARSI. This project supports community organisations in Bolivia, Ghana, and Indonesia that are dedicated to protecting nature in and around their communities. By equipping these organisations with the skills and some funds to mobilise local support for their work, Strengthen the Roots fosters grassroots-driven environmental and social development. 

Last year, with Strengthen the Roots funds, the group could pay the Essential Oil Network for a training on the use of the distillation equipment and KKI Warsi provided trainings on organisational capacities. The funds were also used for agarwood leaf choppers, production tables and chairs and the construction of agarwood leaf washing stations that comply with production standard operating procedures.