Agriculture Observer: Livestock Feed From Cassava Skin Needs To Be Developed

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - agricultural observer Irwan Sukri Banua assesses that animal feed based on cassava stems needs to be developed in order to take advantage of the great potential for wood sweet potato waste, especially in Lampung.

"The broad agricultural sector has improved and grown in recent years, so the hope is that this agricultural development will still be prioritized," he said in Bandarlampung, Lampung, quoted from Antara, Saturday, March 11.

He said Lampung as a wood sweet potato producing area has the potential for stem waste of 1.2-1.4 million tons.

"The badminton of cassava reaches 1.2-1.4 million tons, this should not be allowed to rot too long, then become a source of disease pests. And, to get rid of it alone requires an expensive cost of Rp. 1 million per hectare. So, this utilization into animal feed must be developed," he said.

He continued the use of wood sweet potato stem waste into animal feed, it can be immediately carried out by developing the patented cassava stem competition technology.

"Through this technology, cassava stems will be formed into cassava rice for feed for cows and goats. Usually, if you are given a complete (casong block), the livestock do not want to eat it, but if it has become rice, the livestock is veryap and this has been tested in eight districts," he said.

He explained that the development of cassava stem processing is one way to overcome problems in agriculture, especially for the provision of animal feed during the dry season.

"Usually our breeders (in Lampung), if the dry season can find green food for livestock to Bengkulu and South Sumatra. With this innovation, only Rp200-400 per kilogram is cheap, livestock can get healthy food," he added.

According to him, if the production of wood sweet potato stem waste is still excessive, it can be processed into a biomass license mixed with multinutrient sauce to increase livestock weight.

"This biomass license has been tried in East Lampung, Tulang Bawang, South Lampung, and West Lampung Regencies. From here it can be seen that the daily weight gain of the cattle is only 0.33 per kilogram per head per day, but with cassava stem-based feed it can reach 0.67 kilograms per head per day. This also provides an opportunity for increased meat production in Lampung," he said.