Our Steps

The main purpose

The best PALM SUGAR SOLID in the entire Sumatra region of Indonesia.

We have special standards for palm sugar, which means – everything has to start with the farmers.

And we have traveled to palm plantations almost all over the island of Sumatra randomly, carrying out laboratory tests, making molds, making agreements with farmers, and packaging palm sugar right after production.

About Palm Trees

Palm Tress Product

Why Palm Sugar Solid?

Little processing
Direct from farmers
Can be used as a cooking raw material
As a raw material for making granulated sugar
Always new and fresh, because it is packaged immediately after being taken from the farmer

Vision

The world population is healthier, participates in forest conservation, the economy is improving, world cooperation is increasing

Target

Palm Sugar Farmers
Form farmer group associations in each region that produces palm sugar
Making their products ready for consumption/reprocessing by people all over the world

Mission

Facts we discovered along our journey

The following is our experience and some things we have encountered ourselves in the field. If there is something you don’t like or have any questions about, please contact us directly

We just o want to provide a clear view of the situation, without intending to make the people mentioned feel discriminated against or feel accused.

FARMERS

Some things we found out from farmers

In the same area, there are several families who work as palm sugar farmers and both produce palm sugar. However, their production results are different, depending on how they start from tapping sap to the process of producing sugar..
They sometimes insist that their palm produce is the best and cheapest.
For some of them, training and coaching is just a waste of time that they should use for production

GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE

The government, both central/regional/even at village scale, has done the following things, as far as we can find from the confessions of palm sugar producing villagers.

Assistance by providing palm sap mixing machines in one visit. Over time, farmers returned to using traditional methods, because there was no further guidance.
In West Sumatara Province, the government facilitates regular exhibitions of local palm sugar products, especially for local sales.
There is a central government program through MSMEs in the regions to make SNI (Indonesian National Standards) for free, and the promotion of BPOM (Indonesian Food and Drug Processing Center)
In several people’s palm plantations, food processing safety seminars have been held, but this has not been accompanied by financial assistance to complete both Haccp and organic certification. Farmers are encouraged to run their own businesses
In Riau Province there is the only sugar palm land that is already producing. This type of sugar palm is different from the forest palm, with a garden period of 5 years and the same harvest period. Riau is a very lowland area, so sugar palm forests cannot grow optimally. The government facilitates equipment to process sugar palm into palm powder/granule. They also provide local product exhibition facilities.

THE RESPONSE THAT FARMERS HAVE GIVEN TO US

We traveled to almost all parts of Sumatra to get sources of palm sugar.
Before we bought their product for samples, we said that our goal was to export, and also said that we would test the palm sugar they produce in the laboratory.

Immediately express their willingness.
Refused to sell to us
Willing to sell to us on the condition that we tell them the results, and expect assistance if there is something missing from their product

QUALITY OF PALM SUGAR

We carried out the initial testing through laboratory services recommended by the Indonesian Agro Industry Center (BBIA).

The first standard test carried out was the Proximate test, which includes water content, ash content and water insoluble material content.

Of the palm sugar we tested, only a few met SNI standards. We convey these results personally to the farmers in the hope that they will be willing to improve their products. (We – and also the laboratory where we test sugar – are committed to not making test result data public.

For palm sugar that almost met the requirements, we came and suggested some changes, based on the respective discrepancies.

For palm sugar that meets standards, we carry out further testing in the form of nutritional levels and make cooperation agreements with farmers, to allow us to become their distributor and carry out HACCP and organic certification for their products. This agreement is time-limited, adjusted to the validity period of the certificate.

INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT SUPPORT TO 4AS.CO.ID

The Indonesian government has supported us in the following ways

Ease of licensing through the Indonesia National Single Window (INSW)
Consultation facilities are always fulfilled by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Team
Received facilities from the Indonesian Trade Department through ITPC (Indonesia Trade Promotion Center), including collaboration in sending goods to foreign countries for product promotion, product marketing. mentoring, learning platforms and much more
Buyer clarification assistance from ITPC / Indonesian Embassy located in the export destination country, so that we avoided fraud several times
Assistance from SMESCO – which is a non-echelon work unit under the State Ministry of MSMEs which operates in the field of MSME marketing by implementing the Public Service Agency Financial Management Pattern (PPK-BLU).
Curation and delivery of products for exhibitions with the Indonesian Trade Office (Kadin)
The flood of lessons is conducted via webinars, continuously

Support from the government – which we applied for – but has not yet been granted

Get access to financial assistance/loans to carry out palm sugar testing in the laboratory. Banks (even the bank where we opened a business account) have not been willing to provide loans to our company for testing costs. They recommend taking regular loans by guaranteeing assets. The cash-free credit program is only given to employees or individuals. For our business, individually, we offer loans with collateral for other vehicles (vehicles) with much higher rates than individual loans.

Mutualism Cooperation

We are holding a collaboration that adopts mutalism symbiosis. One of them is by participating in offering products from our friends - who are willing - in one community, and getting a small profit at the end of the project which we use to finance our palm sugar testing program. So, you see many products on our main page. All products have been tested, and we treat all products according to specifications, both in handling, storage and distribution.