Encourage Food Production, Realization Of Prosperous Plants Continues To Grow Above 690 Thousand Ha And Empower More Than 322 Thousand Farmers

Photo: Doc. ID FOOD

JAKARTA - The government continues to encourage increased agricultural and plantation production in order to realize national food self-sufficiency, one of which is by strengthening the role of SOEs in the national food ecosystem through the Makmur program which includes cultivation assistance activities, technology utilization, off-take yields, funding, and insurance.

President Director of the Food SOE Holding ID FOOD as well as Chairman of the Project Management Office (PMO) Makmur Frans Marganda Tambunan, said the Makmur program aims to support increased productivity of food commodities through the integration of business processes from upstream to downstream.

Since its implementation from 2021 to December 2023, the Makmur program has realized 692 thousand ha of planting area with the realization of 284 thousand ha of harvest and the participation of 322 thousand farmer partners. This amount is a total of 5 commodities developed, namely rice, sugar cane, corn, palm oil, and coffee.

This achievement exceeds the targeted area of planting, which is 557 thousand ha. This shows that this food ecosystem close-loop program grows significantly on an increasingly large scale. Of course, in the future this program will continue to be improved with the support of the Ministry of SOEs and the collaboration of BUMN food, banking, insurance, and logistics," said Frans, Wednesday, December 27.

He said palm oil is the largest commodity cultivated in the Makmur program. It was recorded that the area of oil palm planting reached 224 thousand ha or 42 percent above the target of 130 thousand ha. The palm oil cultivation developed by PTPN and PT Pupuk Indonesia has been run in 15 provinces, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Lampung, Bangka Belitung, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and West Sulawesi and involved 55 thousand farmers.

After palm oil, rice is the second largest commodity developed. It is recorded that the area of rice planting has been achieved by 202 thousand ha or 41 percent above the target of 117 thousand ha. Currently, Makmur rice cultivation has been carried out in 18 provinces, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, West Kalimantan, Bali, NTB, NTT, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Gorontalo.

The rice cultivation activities in this program are run by 3 companies, namely PT Sang Hyang Seri, Pupuk Indonesia, and Perum Perhutani. To date, it has involved 148 thousand partner farmers with an area of land that has been harvested 153,000 ha. This figure is equivalent to the area off take. This shows, according to the cooperation scheme, farmers' crops are immediately absorbed by SOEs and business actors so as to maintain market certainty," he explained.

Tebu is the third largest commodity cultivated in this program. According to Frans, ID FOOD, PTPN, and Pupuk Indonesia are companies assigned to boost sugar productivity in the Makmur program.

Makmur targets the realization of sugarcane planting of 241 thousand ha, so far 182 thousand ha have been achieved with a total of 55 thousand partner farmers. The implementation of the Makmur sugarcane commodity program runs in 6 provinces, namely Lampung, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, South Sulawesi," he said.

For corn commodities, Frans added, Sang Hyang Seri and Pupuk Indonesia have succeeded in realizing a 69,000 ha planting area in 12 provinces, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, East Java, NTB, NTT, South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Gorontalo. The planting area is 12 percent higher than the target set, which is 58 thousand ha. The harvest area that has been realized is 52 thousand ha, with 46 thousand partner farmers.

As for coffee commodities, 13 thousand ha have been realized since 2022, or 23% higher than the target of 10 thousand ha. The Makmur program coffee cultivation has involved 15 thousand coffee farmers, so far it has been run by PTPN and Pupuk Indonesia in 7 provinces, namely North Sumatra, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, and East Java.

Frans said that the increase in the realization of Makmur in the last 3 years shows that this food integration program has had a positive impact, especially on partner farmers. This can be seen from the increasing participation of farmer partners, in 2021 the number of partners was recorded at 42 thousand farmers, in 2022 it rose to 131 thousand farmers, and in 2023 to December 21, farmers who joined this program had reached 148 thousand farmers.

"It is hoped that the presence of this program will gradually foster public trust and interest in planting so that it can support the increase in our food commodity production," he explained.

Frans further explained, in the synergy of the Makmur program, ID FOOD acts as a supervisor and assistant to the cultivation process and off taker of harvest. In addition, ID FOOD also cooperates with associations and cooperatives as a forum for farmer groups, as well as the banking sector for the funding aspect.

Frans said this program will continue to be monitored and scaled up. This program is a closed loop form that integrates supply chains from upstream to downstream.

"We are optimistic that the continued growth in the implementation of the Makmur program can support the strengthening of the national food ecosystem. This is a form of BUMN support for the acceleration of national food self-sufficiency, as well as to realize the inclusiveness of farmers," said Frans.