Downstreaming Shallots is a Welfare Solution for Farmers and SMEs

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki said that downstreaming shallots could be one of the main solutions to encourage the welfare of farmers and SMEs in Brebes, Central Java.

Minister Teten said, with downstreaming, farmers will get added value and guaranteed prices from the products produced during the main harvest season.

"If we don't process agricultural products which are greatly influenced by the seasons, we will never be able to build farmers' welfare, we will also never be able to stabilize food supplies for a full year because prices fluctuate," he said in a written statement received by VOI, Monday, September 18.

He said that shallots could be developed into several products, such as fried onions, crispy onions, shallot flour, and even pasta.

The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) itself stated its readiness to help market processed shallot products, both in domestic and overseas markets.

Apart from that, Teten also emphasized the importance of maintaining the supply and production of shallots nationally. Because, so far, shallots have been one of the biggest contributors to inflation during the lean season.

However, unfortunately during the main harvest season, market prices fall so that farmers never get adequate profits.

"To improve the welfare of shallot farmers here, it is necessary for farmers to be consolidated into a cooperative. This is needed as a middle ground for productivity which is still low because the majority of planted land areas are still small," said Teten.

In the future, continued Teten, his party will encourage farmers to be consolidated on a wide business scale through cooperatives so that the production scale is large and more efficient.

"We can no longer allow individual farmers, we can build corporate farming even though the land is limited through cooperatives," he concluded.