PIND trained me as a nursery operator to identify oil palm seeds that are not viable for planning. From the nursery stage, I can now identify seedlings that would not be viable for planning and sort them out properly before taking them to the farm. The PIND approach has also exposed my organization to critical actors and stakeholders in the oil palm sector and provided us access to markets and innovative technologies such as mechanical harvesters. We were unaware of much of this innovation before meeting PIND. Now, we use these tools to improve our productivity.
More people in my community are confident about becoming oil palm farmers and nursery operators. The value chain has improved over the years thanks to PIND-facilitated training. The nursery operators teach farmers the best farming practices and support them in raising their seedlings. The farmers’ incomes have improved because their yield has improved.
More people now own cracking centers. PIND encouraged these by enabling access to capital to build oil palm mills. In this way, people who don’t own farms can make money. Livelihoods in my community have greatly improved as people now benefit more from the sector. PIND has made farmers in my community financially independent.
