Social Assistance and Fertilizer to be Disbursed through the Red and White Kopdes Starting September

JAKARTA - The government will focus on distributing social assistance, subsidized goods, and ministerial assistance through the Red and White Village Cooperative and Kelurahan Cooperative. The scheme is targeted to start running in September.

Coordinating Minister for Food and Agriculture Zulkifli Hasan said President Prabowo Subianto asked all ministries and agencies to support the operation of the cooperative. The TNI and Polri were also asked to help.

"Social assistance, government assistance, all will be through Kopdes. It is centralized in Kopdes," said Zulkifli Hasan or commonly called Zulhas after a limited meeting at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Thursday, July 23.

According to Zulhas, the Kopdes Merah Putih will become a government infrastructure as well as a buyer of production results or off-taker. The cooperative will be a channel for distributing various needs and assistance at the village level.

The goods distributed include social assistance from the Ministry of Social Affairs, fertilizer from state-owned enterprises, agricultural tools and machinery from the Ministry of Agriculture, and 3 kilogram LPG from the energy sector.

"All subsidized goods and government assistance goods will be distributed through the Red and White Village Cooperative or the Red and White Village Cooperative," he said.

Zulhas said the government targeted around 25,000 cooperatives to start operating in August to September. The number is targeted to increase to 35,862 units by the end of the year.

The development and improvement of the cooperative lasted for two years. After that, its management was handed over to the village because the cooperative belonged to the village.

The government is also preparing a presidential regulation regarding the governance of the Red and White Kopdes. The regulation was initiated by Minister of Cooperatives Ferry Juliantono together with Minister of Villages and Regional Development Yandri Susanto.

Zulhas and Ferry target the draft regulation to be completed this week.

Ferry said the government was preparing the cooperative's operations so that all schemes would run according to plan.

"We hope that after October, everything about Kopdes will be clear, clear, and the benefits will be felt by the Indonesian people," said Zulhas.