Yong (35),The residents of Alur Cucur Village, that afternoon were so excited to take the PDSI team to see youth activities in their village which is only a few meters from the PDSI Project Area Rantau – Aceh Tamiang office. He wanted to show an area called dead river/similar to a lake in the middle of a swamp – created by the youths.

In the middle of the dead river, there is like a pond divided into several squares measuring about 3 x 3 meters. Each cage box contains catfish, tilapia, and so on. According to Yong, catfish can be harvested every two months. “For this type of catfish, we are able to produce no less than one quintal,” said Yong.

Meanwhile, he added, the market demand in the Aceh Tamiang area is quite large and they already have regular buyers who regularly come there to receive their harvests.

PDSI CSR Support
The success of managing a place that was originally not useful to become economically valuable is not without obstacles. According to Yong, initially this idea did not receive significant support. But their determination and enthusiasm and belief did not dampen the goodwill.

Until then, PDSI Rantau was moved to distribute its CSR assistance to this creative youth community group. Now that is assisted by CSR PDSI has paid off, especially with the large market demand for catfish in the area.

Unfortunately, the large number of catfish needs is only limited to being directly cooked for public consumption, no one has used it as a processed product. Whereas processed catfish products have a higher selling value. This opportunity is being tried and actively developed by other community groups there, namely processing catfish into smoked catfish.

Alur Cucur Village is another proof of the success of PDSI’s CSR. Thanks to the creativity of local youth in managing the dead river and the support of PDSI’s CSR, the community around Alur Cucur Village has now felt the benefits. The environment is cleaner, odorless and even generates economic benefits.

Smoked Catfish Products from PDSI CSR