Six Sugar Palm Business Groups in Simalungun Receive Ant Sugar Production Equipment

SIMALUNGUN, GARISBUMI.com – Processing of palm sap by assisted business groups in Simalungun Regency, North Sumatra, is still dominated by conventional molded sugar. Limited equipment is one of the obstacles to developing products and reaching a wider market.

To overcome these obstacles, the Ministry of Forestry provided six packages of production equipment to six sugar palm business groups. Assistance was handed over during the Facilitation of Productive Tools for Creative Forestry Entrepreneurship activities in the Forest Area Hall with Special Purposes (KHDTK) Pondok Buluh Training Forest, Dolok Panribuan District, Simalungun Regency, Tuesday (6/10/2026).

The activity was organized by the Forest Conservation Generation Development Center (Pusgenri), the Human Resources Extension and Development Agency (BP2SDM) of the Ministry of Forestry. This facilitation is a follow-up to fostering entrepreneurship in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for sugar palm commodities, especially for the younger generation.

Based on evaluations after technical guidance, the limitations of modern production equipment mean that the group's business is not running optimally. Palm sugar processing still produces a lot of molded sugar, while the development of sugar palm derivative products requires equipment support and quality improvement.

Encourage the Development of Sugar Ants

Head of the Forestry Creative Entrepreneurship Division, Marwoto, opened the activity and read out the Head of Pusgenri's instructions. He emphasized that aid should be used to increase the added value of palm sugar through the production of ant sugar that is hygienic, has low water content, and is packaged airtight.

The product is directed to be developed with the brand identity "Sustainable Palm Sugar from KHDTK Pondok Buluh".

Marwoto also reminded recipient groups to maintain equipment and operate it according to standard operational procedures or SOPs. It is hoped that the assistance will actually be used in business activities and not neglected.