Jokowi: All Farmership Commodities Must Enter Industrialization And Downstream

President Jokowi while harvesting coffee in Kambahang Village, Batubrak District, West Lampung Regency. West Lampung. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo said that all plantation and agricultural commodities must be included in industrialization and downstreaming to increase the selling value of commodities.

"All of our agricultural commodities must enter industrialization and enter downstreaming. I see that in front of many coffee products the packaging is good and ready to be exported," said Jokowi as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, July 12.

With the industrialization and downstreaming of plantation or agricultural commodities, it is hoped that it can increase the selling value of commodities so that it supports the welfare of farmers. "Everything should be done with export ready-to-export packaging like what we have done here," he said. Commodities in this raw form should be downstreamed into derivative products," he said. According to Jokowi, downstreaming can be done in Lampung Province for several regional leading commodities such as coffee. "This must be downstreamed not only coffee, chocolate, palm oil can all be, both plantation commodities but also agricultural commodities," he said.

One of the coffee farmers from Kambahang Village, Batubrak District, West Lampung Regency, Syafrudin hopes that there will be support for the implementation of downstream coffee products through the construction of warehouses and coffee factories.

"Hopefully there will be a coffee storage warehouse and a coffee factory directly here," he said.

Syafrudin said that so far local farmers have sold coffee harvests only in the form of unbaked seeds. "With industrialization and downstreaming of coffee, at least it can help farmers so that coffee is not sold too cheap because there is a clear shelter," he said.

Then the market and quality are also maintained because there is no one to pick as long as possible.

Farmers also conveyed to the President that they could help after harvest such as a simple coffee dryer for a combination of coffee farmer groups.