{
  "id": 2287453,
  "title": "Sekolah Sawit Lestari nurtures future generations, one tree at a time",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/sekolah-sawit-lestari-nurtures-future-generations-one-tree-at-a-time",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-21T03:00:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Jakarta Post",
    "slug": "the-jakarta-post",
    "url": "https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2026/08/21/sekolah-sawit-lestari-nurtures-future-generations-one-tree-at-a-time.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Sekolah Sawit Lestari is an education initiative that nurtures future generations by incorporating oil palm industry knowledge into rural communities' school curriculums. With Indonesia being the world's leading palm oil producer, the program aims to educate students about responsible and sustainable palm oil cultivation and management.\n\nAsian Agri, a leading palm oil producer in Indonesia, initiated the program in 2025, providing training to 1,971 smallholders and involving 2,834 independent smallholders through its SMILE program. The company's program brings oil palm education closer to students living and working in oil palm communities.\n\nSekolah Sawit Lestari operates in partnerships with schools in Jambi, North Sumatra, and Riau, where technical knowledge and practical support are provided to help students understand oil palm cultivation, management, and environmental practices. The program emphasizes the importance of practical learning, such as preparing land, planting, maintaining trees, managing pests and diseases, and harvesting. Students also learn about environmental conservation, such as land management without burning.\n\nIn its pilot phase, the program was implemented in six schools, with 560 oil palm trees planted across 4.25 hectares. One such school, SMKN 1 Silangkitang state vocational school in Labuhanbatu Selatan regency, North Sumatra, transformed an unused piece of land into a working learning space. The plantation started producing 500 to 600 kilograms of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) every 15 days in 2020, after which the school took over day-to-day management.\n\nThe income generated from the harvest is used to support the students' learning process, extracurricular activities, and even local community benefits like kurban. This program not only offers students practical knowledge and experience about oil palm cultivation but also provides a sustainable source of income for the participating schools.",
  "summary": "Students gain practical knowledge and valuable experience as schools implement oil palm education into their curriculum",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}