Kemenkop UKM Plans To Build Middle-Scale Nilam Factory In Aceh

Expert Staff for Inter-Institutional Relations of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Riza Damanik. (Photo: Doc. ANATRA)

BOGOR - The Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) said that it is preparing the construction of a medium-scale factory for the processing of nilam commodities in Aceh.

"Kemenkop UKM is currently preparing to build a medium-scale factory for numlam commodities in Aceh. Because numlam is an agricultural/plant commodity that is almost easy to find throughout Aceh," said Expert Staff for Inter-Agency Relations of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Riza Damanik in the 2024 Journalists Orientation in Bogor, West Java, Thursday, May 16.

Riza said that the construction of this factory is one of the government's efforts to increase the added value of leading commodities in Indonesia.

It is known, nilam is one of the producers of atsiri oil which is widely used in the perfume industry.

He said, nilam is one of the superior commodities because it has a very strong tier so that its durability is longer.

"We have discussed this (NIlam factory construction plan) and hopefully it can be realized this year," he said.

Selain nilam, Kemenkop UKM juga sedang membahas pengembangan komoditas ginger untuk produk herbal.

Currently, Kemenkop UKM has also built several medium factories in the form of joint production houses (RPB) as places to process local potential into superior products.

There are eight RPB locations that have been built, namely joint production houses for chili commodities in Batu Bara Regency, North Sumatra, leather in Garut Regency, rattan in Sukoharjo Regency, and milk in Yogyakarta.

Then, there are cocoa in Jembrana, Bali, rubber in Tanah Laut, South Kalimantan; salt in Pangkep, South Sulawesi and bamboo in West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

Riza continued, his party is also seeing the potential of many other commodities that excel in Indonesia, one of which is seaweed.

"We are currently an exporter of seaweed. However, the processed export is only around 6 percent, while 94 percent is non-processing. In fact, if seaweed is processed, the income can be doubled. In fact, it can be 13 times," he added.