Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/724263
62 tobaccoasia / Issue 4, 2016 September / October images courtesy of PT. Far East Leaf Indonesia images courtesy of PT. Far East Leaf Indonesia images courtesy of PT. Far East Leaf Indonesia images courtesy of Alliance One International FCV growing in Lombok Henri Kusuma, General Manager, PT. Far East Leaf Indonesia Sorting of cured tobacco leaves that "the single most important aspect is farm sustainability, which in turn leads to crop quality improvement. And that is commensurate with an increase in the farmers' income." By building such a strong relationship between the tobacco company and its con- tracted growers, FELI and Star Tobacco claimed to have been able to procure and trade approximately 5,000 tons of FCV, 4,000t of DFC, 1,000t of sun-cured, and 1,500t of Besuki NO of the 2015 crop. The company targets to increase this to 6,000t FCV, 5,000t DFC, 2,000t sun-cured, and also intends to double the volume of Besuki NO to some 3,000t in the current crop year. Kusuma also said that his company is not only committed to further develop existing tobacco use channels but also wants to explore and research further applications. "For example, we've been thinking about the still largely untapped area of provid- ing tobacco for medicinal purposes and applications." PT. Alliance One Indonesia As far as Indonesian tobacco is concerned, few merchants are more involved than Al- liance One International (AOI; also see our feature story on tobacco leaf tracking and tracing in this issue), as the multinational company is one of the two largest tobacco traders worldwide in terms of annual volume and value. In 2001, the company estab- lished its first presence in Indonesia, initially entering into an exclusive arrangement with a local tobacco supplier to fill its customer orders of Indonesian leaf. After that strategic partnership was eventually terminated in 2011, AOI formed its own wholly owned subsidiary, PT. Alliance One Indonesia (PT. AOI), which was the first wholly owned foreign subsidiary involved in tobacco production and trading to be granted a business license in Indonesia. "The new set-up provided AOI with more control over the way tobacco was grown, enabling us to expand our efforts to support sustainable and compliant to- bacco production among our contract farmers", said Laerte Elias Costa, PT. AOI's country manager. According to PT. AOI business rela- tionship manager Dickson Mukucha, the typical product groups handled today by the company are big leaf tobaccos: flue- cured Virginia (FCV), dark fire-cured (DFC) , and burley air-cured) as well as native varieties such as sun-cured Rajan- Story teller entertains farmer children under PT. AOI's educational program