Menkop Opens Opportunities For Farmers' Cooperatives To Be Involved In The Bioethanol Industry In Indonesia

JAKARTA - The Minister of Cooperatives, Ferry Juliantono, revealed that his party is ready to enter the bioethanol industry ecosystem in Indonesia, through cooperatives. Moreover, currently, there are several parties including Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (car manufacturer), Lampung Provincial Government (providor of agricultural products for ethanol raw materials), to the Ministry of Investment and Downstreaming related regulations, which are ready to tread bioethanol production in Indonesia.

"Kemenkop juga memiliki semangat yang sama dalam mengembangkan potensi bioethanol di Indonesia," ungkap Menteri Koperasi (Menkop) Ferry Juliantono, Jumat, 24 Oktober.

Ferry said he was optimistic that the bioethanol industry ecosystem could soon be realized because the Ministry of Investment had indeed initiated it by preparing all its regulations. In fact, the Lampung Provincial Government has prepared hundreds of thousands of hectares of land for raw materials, such as wood sweet potatoes, cane, and corn.

"The regulation from the Ministry of Investment already exists, and Toyota also has an interest in increasing its production capacity. This means that we at the Ministry of Cooperatives only need to discuss how the business model is with the plasma core scheme where cooperatives are also involved," continued Ferry.

In the scheme, he continued, the point is Toyota, while the plasma is farmers who can be consolidated through cooperatives. Among them, cooperatives of wood sweet potato farmers, sugarcane farmers, and cooperative corn farmers.

"For this ecosystem, not Gapoktan, but cooperatives. Because, if Gapoktan does not refer to one business entity. There must be plasma for farmers who are organized through farmer cooperatives, with Toyota as the point," explained Menkop Ferry.

However, based on past experiences, the Coordinating Minister warned that the plasma should not be left behind, while on the other hand the point is going too fast.

"There must always be improvements in this plasma core ecosystem," said the Coordinating Minister.

Ferry fully supports the bioethanol ecosystem in the cooperative model, especially later in the operation of the Red and White Villages Cooperative.

According to Ferry, the Red and White Kopdes was indeed asked by President Prabowo Subianto, not only as a place to distribute and sell goods, but also as an offtaker of community products.

"If it can be done together, we can provide tools to function the Red and White Kopdes as offtakers. I think this is good," said the Coordinating Minister.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Investment, Todotua Pasaribu, stated that in the future Toyota would be concerned about the concept of vehicles using hydrogen and ethanol fuels.

"And the good news is that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has mentioned that we have entered the E10 fuel bath, or the use of 10% ethanol," said Todotua.

This means, continued Todotua, if with E10 then there will be a potential for a captive market of around three million kiloliters.

"In fact, it can achieve the needs of four million ethanol. We must balance this condition with the strength of national ethanol production," said Todotua.

In fact, according to Todotua, Toyota is also ready to enter the security of feedstock for hydrogen and ethanol products.

"Similarly, they will be involved in the upstream in the ethanol industry," said Todotua.