Supporting Coconut Development in Indonesia, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Appreciates Organizing the International Coconut Community in Gorontalo

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) appreciates the Gorontalo Regency Government (Pemkab) together with the International Coconut Community (ICC) and the Indonesian Coconut Council (DEKINDO) for organizing World Coconut Day 2023. This activity was officially opened by the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki virtually.

The reason is, coconut is one of the leading commodities in Indonesia, especially in the plantation subsector.

"Coconut commodities contribute to the country's foreign exchange earnings, providing employment opportunities, meeting domestic consumption needs, raw materials for various domestic industries, obtaining added value and competitiveness, as well as optimizing sustainable management of natural resources," said the Minister's Expert Staff for Macroeconomics. Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) Rulli Nuryanto in his official statement, Saturday, September 23.

Rulli said that the challenges still faced in efforts to increase coconut productivity in Indonesia are generally related to old coconut plants, pest and disease attacks, as well as land conversion and financial aspects for farmers.

"Currently, the government is encouraging downstreaming which is not only limited to mineral commodities, but also non-mineral commodities such as coconut, seaweed, palm oil and other potential commodities," he said.

He said that one form of support from the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs for the downstreaming of the coconut industry was the construction of a Joint Production House or factory sharing for processed coconuts in South Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi. The construction of this coconut processing joint production house will later be managed by a cooperative.

Furthermore, Rulli emphasized that Indonesia's competitiveness and coconut exports need to be developed in an integrated manner from the upstream to downstream sectors, connected to financing, and supported by the latest technology.

"One strategy is through cooperatives, where farmers join a cooperative, then the cooperative will absorb coconut products from farmers, process and sell the processed coconut products to the market," he said.

Rulli hopes that the 2023 World Coconut Day event can increase cooperation between ICC member countries in developing the coconut industry. "So, it can improve the welfare of farmers and the people of member countries," he said.

On the same occasion, Gorontalo Regent Nelson Pomalingo said that this event was attended by 16 countries, including Papua New Guinea, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, France, Sri Lanka and others.

"This event will try to formulate a roadmap for coconut development in Indonesia. We are also planting 500 thousand coconuts in Gorontalo," he concluded.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia's coconut production will reach 2.85 million tonnes in 2021. This number has increased by 1.47 percent compared to the previous year, namely 2.81 million tonnes.

Gorontalo itself has produced coconuts amounting to 2.38 percent of national production and in the future this will continue to be developed.