PT. Riau Sakti United Plantations (Sambu Group)

Founded in 1986 as a hybrid coconut plantation to emphasize crop intensification, PT Riau Sakti United Plantations (Plantation), located in the Riau Province of East Sumatra Indonesia, is the first successful coconut plantation on porous peat soil in the world. Peat soil is fertile and suitable for coconut cultivation but the highly porous soil allows too much water seepage and excessive evaporation which become more serious during the dry seasons. This was addressed effectively at PT Riau Sakti United Plantations (Plantation) by the construction of an ingenious irrigation network that comprises of main, secondary and tertiary canals measuring well over 3000km in length. Suitably placed floodgates control water distribution to individual areas and ensure adequate supply of water at certain levels is consistently maintained. The network has been acknowledged as first of its kind in the world. The canals are dredged approximately once every 18 months to enable consistent discharge of water to be maintained. The network enhances the productivity of the plantation and ensures that the processing plant at PT Riau Sakti United Plantations (Plantation) has a continuous supply of quality raw material. Located in the tropical zone with a rainfall of over 2,500mm per annum, the climate serves to be conducive for planting pineapples. Seizing this opportunity, part of the plantation has since the early 1990s been converted for pineapple crop. PT Riau Sakti United Plantations (Plantation) also has its own nursery for its hybrid coconut seeds. This has successfully resulted in a highly productive coconut plantation. Much of PT Riau Sakti United Plantations (Plantation)’s success has to be credited to the research and development efforts of the Research and Advisory Laboratory.