1

BACKGROUND
The Province of Aceh in the Republic of Indonesia has for a long time not being able to receive and enjoy adequate
benefits of modern development to the levels that have been enjoyed by the other Indonesian provinces in Sumatra, Jawa
and other parts of the country. Furthermore the Province of Aceh has long suffered from political instability, internal war
conflicts, lack of peace, shortage of funds, the side effects of the long drawn conflict between the Aceh Liberation Movement
(GAM) and the armed forces of the Republic of Indonesia. Note that the GAM forces have been fighting for some 3 decades
against the central government for independence.
The 2004 tsunami further worsened the deplorable conditions of the local populations. However the local populations
have not fully recovered from decades of war torn events and the tsunami and currently living in poverty. The Province of
Aceh though peaceful still remain very much in the backwaters and require enormous rehabilitation and development.
Now with peace, political stability, good security and economic growth following the direct election and full support
Government of the Province of Aceh, it is timely to consider the opportunity to participate in the development of the
Province of Aceh, especially in the date palm industry. For the investors, with the support of the business oriented local
government this is golden opportunity to start business.
The potentially industry in Aceh is the date palm cultivation. It is the worlds most produced and traded vegetable. It is
found in one in ten products on supermarket shelves. Furthermore, it is increasingly looked upon as a commodity that will
satisfy the growing demand in the developed world for an environmentally friendly. The Government of Aceh has initiated
plans to develop an Industrial Estate in the district near Aceh Besar, Bireuen, North Aceh and East Aceh as part of the overall
plan to boost the industrialization the district.
Date palm is one of the most economically important woody crops cultivated in the Middle East and North Africa and is
a good candidate for improving agricultural yields in arid environments. Nonetheless, long generation times (58 years) and
dioecy (separate male and female trees) have complicated its cultivation and genetic analysis. The date palm is one of the
oldest cultivated trees in the world, with evidence of domestication dating back >5,000 years The discovery of date in the
tombs of pharaohs and in neolithic sites dating from 7,000 to 8,000 years ago demonstrates the historical significance of the
species to human nutrition.
Date palm trees are critical to agriculture in many hot and arid regions, and date are the most important agricultural
product of many countries in the Arabian Gulf. Total global production of date in 2007 was 6.9 million tons.
3

INTRODUCTION
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a dioecious, perennial monocot plant species of the Arecaceae family. It is one of
the oldest and most important fruit crops cultivated in arid regions of North Africa and Middle East countries. Date palm has
been planted in Indonesia mainly for ornamentals because the plant has rarely produced flowers and fruits. However,
recently date palm has been grown and fruited successfully in the tropical area of Thailand and now is becoming one of the
most-wanted fruits in this country.
As the biggest Moslem country, Indonesia should be the leader in the development of date palm in the tropics. Since
the R & D on date palm has already been conducted extensively for many years in other countries, date palm R & D in Aceh
must be focused on the selection of superior varieties adaptable to agroclimate conditions of Aceh and on mass clonal
propagation of superior varieties to provide rapidly elite planting materials to be planted in Aceh and the rest of Indonesia.
Date palm is commonly propagated by seeds and offshoots. Seed propagation is the easiest method but approximately
half of the seed progeny are male and half are female trees, and the progeny are not true-to-type trees. Offshoot
propagation is commonly used in North Africa and Middle East countries, but it is not commercially practical because only a
limited numbers of shoots produced and this method is difficult and laborious. Therefore, plant tissue culture technology is a
potential alternative to propagate date palm. Tissue culture of date palm enables large-scale mass multiplication of
genetically uniform female plants of superior cultivars.
Research on tissue culture of date palm has been conducted since 1970s (Tisserat, 1979) using direct or indirect
organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis routes (Bekheet, 2013). Direct route (without the formation of callus) is
genetically more stable (lower chance of flower/fruit abnormality) but the multiplication rate is considered lower than that of
indirect route (through callus formation). Most of tissue cultures of date palm have used meristem tip of offshoots as source
of explants (Badawy et al., 2005; Eshraghi et al., 2005; Alkhateeb, 2006; Aslam et al., 2011; Boufis et al., 2014). However,

inflorescence (Abu-Soad & Mahdi, 2010) and young leaves (Fki et al., 2011; Abd El Bar & El Dawayati, 2014) could also be
used as explants instead.
Seed propagation is the easiest method but half of the seed progeny are male and half are female trees, and are not
true-to-type trees. Offshoot propagation is not commercially practical because only a limited numbers of shoots produced
and is difficult and laborious. Tissue culture of date palm enables large-scale mass multiplication of genetically uniform
female plants of superior cultivars. Tissue culture of date palm has been conducted via organogenesis or somatic
embryogenesis (SE) routes. Tissue culture procedure of date palm will be developed using superior genotypes of known
superior cultivars of date palm as explant sources.

THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The province of Aceh, in the far north western corner of Indonesia, has topographical and climatic conditions that
some describe as ideal for cultivation of tropical date palm. However the tropical date palm industries in Aceh has not really
expanded as compared to the other such as Thailand and Malaysia. Thus there are still available areas of land very suitable
for large scale at the north coast from Kabupaten Aceh Besar to Kabupaten Bireuen, all of which are likely to be similar to the
areas of Chiang Mai Thailand which is arguably the best area for tropical agricultural industries like tropical date palm
cultivation.
With full Aceh Government support, the Habib Bugak Corp. Group of Companies and Crescent-Alhilal International
Group was established agriculture industries group (Sawit Aceh Industry Group of Co.) with main objective to help conflict
and tsunami victims, especially in the agriculture and palm oil plantations in Kabupaten Bireuen and Kabupaten Aceh Timur.
These people are the hard core poor segment of the local populations and it is the Government fervent objective to provide
them with sustained employment to achieve economic independence. The Group has support and recommended to plan and
develop palm oil plantation and establish a crude palm oil mill and refinery plant in Kabupaten Aceh Timur.
In the future, Group with Potential Partner from Middle East and Brunei Darussalam will introduce an integrated date
palm cultivation project and established with professional management. The main objective of Group is reach a high level of
productivity that can raise the living standards of the people of Aceh. The industries can provide large scale employment and
housing within. In addition the government can select the families who will wish to live and settle in these areas through a
development program. The Group has invited a joint venture company to design, build, operate and manage a modern
integrated agriculture industries in Aceh. In the date palm cultivation business, Group proposed to the Governments and
together with some Koperasi Perkebunan to jointly develop and manage the cultivation from available land banks. An area
will be given as the Mather (Nucleus) Estate. The local populations that have been most affected by the internal conflict and
the tsunami shall be given priority to participate and work in the project plantations.
7

The smallholder family shall be required to work cultivate their date palm crops and received paid salaries. Sustainable
incomes shall be derived when the fruits are realized. The training of local professionals will be accelerated that they will be
able to contribute strongly to the economic activity and raise the standard of living of families.
The development will lead to other industries including downstream such as packing and marketing. As a result of the
presence of these industries, the cost of these products will be available at lower market prices for the local populations of
Aceh. The investment can stimulate the growth of related industries such as fertilizer production, equipment and tools
manufacturing, and provision of good and services for the needs of the employees.

1. The governments of the Province of Aceh and Kabupaten welcome Group and the Potential Partners and the Investor to
jointly develop and manage the project from available land banks of 1.000 hectares or more in Kabupaten Aceh Besar
with new model an integrated agriculture industries.
2. An area of minimum 100 hectares will be take over by Partner or Investor as the Mather or Nucleus Estate.
3. The project shall have a Smallholder farmers owned by Koperasi Rakyat. The scheme which will be based on the same
successful formula that has been done by Government of Malaysia. The smallholder family shall be required to work
cultivate their fruits and received paid salaries. Sustainable incomes shall be derived when the fruits are realized. A Joint
Venture holding company is proposed to develop the Project comprising of Investor, the Koperasi and private investing
company. The Company will manage cooperation between Investor Company, Koperasi and Local partner.
4. It is recommended that the funding can be repaid in ten years to Plasma-Koperasi Plantation, although the normal payback period for a typical palm plantation project is more likely to be about ten years. Are likely to be receptive to the idea
of using surplus earnings to help rebuild the Province of Aceh and in alleviating the poverty of the local populations.
8

BENEFITS TO THE PEOPLE

1. The incomes from the business will be high and the payback period can be about seven years.
The revenue from exports will bring in foreign exchange. The incomes can be sustained for
some 35 years as typical in other date palm plantations.
2. The local government will be able to use the incomes to raise the economic activities, including
the funding of development projects, housing and infrastructure that will in turn generate a
prosperity cycle that will benefit the local populations. The cycle of prosperity will help ensure
stability and peace.
3. The development will lead to other industries including downstream such as packing and
marketing . As a result of the presence of these industries, the cost of these products will be
available at lower market prices for the local populations of Aceh. The investment can
stimulate the growth of related industries such as fertilizer production, equipment and tools
manufacturing, and provision of good and services for the needs of the employees.

10

SITE LOCATION

11

12

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14

15

16

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18

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CASH FLOW FOR 100 HA CULTIVATION BIO-AJWA (ORGANIC DATE PALM) IN ACEH
0
I

II

OUT FLOW
1. Land ClearN
2. Baby Tree
3. Facilities
4. Veh-truck
5. Salary/Fee
6. Ops
7. Other
TOTAL
IN FLOW
1. Production
2. Zaitun/Tin
3. Offshoot
4. Other
TOTAL

10

11

(.000 USD)
12

5.00
2.500
1.500
200
200
200
300
5.500

100
100
300
300
200
1.000

100
100
300
300
200
1.000

100
100
300
300
200
1.000

100
100
300
300
200
1.000

100
100
300
300
200
1.000

200
200
600
600
400
2.000

300
300
900
900
600
3.000

500
500
1.500
1.500
1.000
5.000

700
700
2.000
2.000
600
6.000

1.000
1.000
2.000
2.000
1.000
7.000

1.000
1.000
2.000
2.000
1.000
7.000

1.000
1.000
2.000
2.000
1.000
7.000

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

2.800

7.000

16.000

24.000

30.000

30.000

30.000

30.000

30.000

2.800

7.000

16.000

24.000

30.000

30.000

30.000

30.000

30.000

-1.000

-1.000

-1.000

1.800

6.000

14.000

21.000

25.000

24.000

23.000

23.000

23.000

2.000
1.300
2.000
15.700

2.000
800
3.000
19.200

3.000
900
4.000
16.100

3.000
1.000
5.000
14.000

3.000
1.100
5.000
13.900

0
1.200
5.000
15.800

26.000

45.200

61.300

75.300

89.200

105.000

III

SUB TOTAL

-5.500

V
VI
VII
VII

FINANCING
INV. SHARING
TAX-ZAKAT
TOTAL

0
0
0
-5.500

0
0
-1.000

0
0
-1.000

0
0
-1.000

0
0
1.800

0
0
6.000

1.000
900
1.100
11.000

VIII

CASH FLOW

-5.500

-6.500

-7.500

-8.500

-6.700

-700

10.300

ASUMPSION :
- AJWA RUTHAB PRICE TO DAY : USD. 100. PESIMISTIC PRICE/KG. USD. 20
- FRUIT PRODUCTION BASE ON THAILAND DATE PALM FARMER
- YEAR 4 : 20 Kg x 7.000 tree x USD. 20 = USD. 2.800.000
- YEAR 5 = 50 KG, YEAR 6 = 50 KG, YEAR 7 = 75 KG, YEAR 8-35 = 100 KG
20