Jakarta. The Desa Sejahtera Astra campaign has helped the Yayasan Mitra Organik Boja Farm in Bogor to export agricultural products worth hundreds of thousands of American dollars. 

Astra runs a campaign dubbed the Desa Sejahtera Astra to empower local villages across the archipelago, including Boja Farm which has received Astra’s assistance in the form of business ecosystem development, business matching, and mentoring. All this assistance has enabled Boja Farm to make exports. 

According to Boja Farm’s representative John Tumiwa, each tranche of agricultural export is worth between $100,000 and $400,000 or approximately Rp6.3 billion. These exports go to Canada, the US, and Japan. Their products have already secured the organic certifications that meet the standards of those three markets. 

“Some of our leading agricultural exports include vanilla products and fruit chips,” John said Thursday. 

According to John, Boja Farm’s products also have a presence domestically as it is already sold in several supermarket chains, including Kemchicks and Grand Lucky. 

Astra’s head of corporate communications Boy Kelana Soebroto said that he was happy to see what Boja Farm had achieved.

“Astra always encouraged the villages to export their local goods. Hopefully, this will motivate the other villages in Indonesia,” Boy said. 

“Villages will be able to progress even more if they can export their goods,” Boy added. 

The company will also continue to develop its Desa Sejahtera Astra campaign. Astra even has a designated division -- namely the environment and social responsibility division -- that is in charge of overseeing this program.