Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Minister Teten Masduki has asked farmers to pursue a modern agricultural business model with the help of cooperatives to improve their welfare.
He said that the agriculture system in Indonesia is different from that in Australia, America, and Europe, where a farmer can have hundreds of hectares of land.
“In Indonesia, on average, each farmer has 0.3 hectares,” he said during a meeting with farmers and Artha Mitra Abadi Jaya Cooperative members at a restaurant in Nepal Van Java village in Magelang district, Central Java province.
He said that with such a small space for productivity, it is hard to establish food resilience, considering that farmers have to supply high-quality stocks in a consistent manner.
He said that attempts are being made to replicate the corporate farming system adopted in countries like Australia and New Zealand, however, farm ownership will not be entrusted to just one person or entity.
“Through cooperatives, the farmers’ corporatization will be consolidated. Farmers will collaborate with cooperatives so that they gain economic (benefits),” he elaborated.
Nepal Van Java has 400 hectares of land belonging to 600 people, he pointed out.
“In Lampung, we make the same model, in which 400 hectares involve 600 people for (growing) a product, that is banana,” he added.
He said that he is sure that the bananas in Singapore have been sourced from the same Lampung cooperative.
With this model of collaboration, farmers can focus on productivity and not be concerned by sales, since cooperatives will manage that part by either working with regional companies or selling products in the market directly, Minister Masduki added.
Such a model has also been adopted in Ciwidey sub-district in Bandung district, West Java, he said. Their product has penetrated modern markets, he noted.
“We want to collectively establish a well-planned agriculture system, so that what the farmers plant, be it in terms of plant variety, product, or volume, can suit the market demands,” the minister said.
By doing so, there would be no excess supply that leads to a decline in prices, he added.— ANTARA
