Kemenkop Encourages Palm Oil Downstream Through Red And White Cooperatives

Assistant Deputy for Production Development of the Ministry of Cooperatives Elviandi. (Doc. Kemenkop)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Cooperatives (Kemenkop) is encouraging the downstream oil palm program through the Sekunder Karya Sawit Mandiri Jaya Cooperative (KSMJ). This cooperative was founded by seven primary cooperatives to establish a community-consolidated CPO factory that joins in a cooperative with a land area of 6,000 hectares.

Assistant Deputy for Production Development of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Elviandi, said that this step aims to provide added value and confidence in the oil palm plantation market so that it is hoped that the Red and White Village Cooperatives engaged in palm oil commodities can be involved in a sustainable national palm supply chain.

According to him, as an effort to realize the leading commodity downstream program for the Red and White Kopdes in West Kotawaringin Regency, there are several steps that are of concern. First, increasing production capacity with the right processing technology to make KDKMP products of high value.

"Strengthening the capacity of the Red and White Kopdes management is a priority. This step is supported by the presence of Business Assistant for all Red and White Kopdes, especially those in West Kotawaringin Regency," explained Elviandi.

Third, he continued, encouraging the digitization of the Red and White Kopdes, of the 94 Red and White Kopdes that have been recorded, there are still 21 Red and White Kopdes that need to be encouraged to immediately register in the Simkopdes system as entry points to access to financing.

Fourth, continued Elviandi, access to financing for the Red and White Kopdes needs to have a business plan, a business proposal that is in accordance with the potential of the village.

"Then, all parties such as LPDB, Agriterra, district governments can continue to encourage KSMJ to become one of the piloting of palm oil-based downstream programs," Elviandi said.

What is no less important is the need for product standardization from the Red and White Kopdes to ensure product quality guarantees to be ready to compete in the market.

"This is all an effort to encourage the business development of the Red and White Kopdes through downstreaming of leading commodities in West Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan," said Elviandi.

As is known, the West Kotawaringin district has great palm oil potential, which is currently prioritized in the construction of the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) plant because from CPO it can be further processed into other products such as packaged cooking oil, soap, cosmetics, to biomass energy.

"In addition, there are also other commodity potentials that can be developed through the Red and White Kopdes," said Elviandi.