Building A Red and White Village Cooperative Outlet, Agrinas Partners with TNI

Construction (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara cooperates with the Indonesian National Army (TNI) in working on the construction of physical outlets, warehouses, and other infrastructure for the Red and White Village/Kelurahan Cooperative (Kopdes/Kel).

President Director of Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, Joao Angelo de Sousa Mota, explained that his party was appointed based on SKB No. 17/2025 to carry out the physical construction of outlets and warehouses of Kopdes/Kel Merah Putih.

He said the existence of 80,000 development points was not a small number, so Agrinas needed to cooperate with the TNI through labor-intensive patterns so that development could be carried out directly and quickly.

"We need support from the TNI, especially in areas that are difficult to reach, such as Papua and the coast, we see that the TNI has the potential and resources that can be used to realize the mandate given to us to build the cooperative outlets," said Joao in a Working Meeting with Commission VI of the DPR RI, quoted Wednesday, November 19.

Joao ensured that his party was trying to use raw materials from local suppliers so that economic benefits could be felt directly by the surrounding community. Even for some areas such as Papua and coastal areas, Agrinas needs TNI support for the delivery of building materials using helicopters or special transportation.

As an effort to strengthen supervision, Agrinas also collaborated with universities, especially engineering faculties, so that final semester students could be involved in field monitoring.

"We want this development to be a process of distributing knowledge and opening up opportunities for young talents to be ready to enter the construction industry," he said.

To date, Agrinas has completed the construction of 15,788 buildings or 16.44 percent in about 15 days since funding was disbursed on October 28. It also sets a development target of 2,930 points per day, although the current realization is only around 1,200 points.

"We carry out mitigation every day and take over every problem that occurs in the field, we hope that by involving the TNI, we can overcome the problem, both related to the availability of building materials, electricity problems, the availability of builders and others," he said.

Chairman of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Anggia Ermarini, expressed his appreciation for the achievements of the Ministry of Cooperatives in forming 82,426 units of Kopdes/Lel Merah Putih who have become legal entities. He said the achievement was very fast and became an important momentum to strengthen the village economy.

However, Anggia assessed that there are still a number of gaps that need to be unraveled, especially regarding the availability of physical infrastructure and the capacity of BA and PMO companions in the field. He emphasized that the success of the Kopdes / Kel Merah Putih was greatly determined by real economic activity, not just the existence of buildings.

Kami ingin melihat langsung progres pembangunan di lapangan. Gerai harus beroperasi, gudang berfungsi, dan koperasi memiliki produk unggulan. Barulah ekonomi desa bergerak, tegasnya.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, M. Nurdin Halid, emphasized the importance of assistance as the key to the success of the Red and White Kopdes / Kel. He assessed that the ratio of one BA accompanying 10 cooperatives was too heavy, especially in areas that did not yet understand the concept of a complete cooperative.

Nurdin assessed that assistance should be a top priority compared to physical development. According to him, without strong management, outlets and warehouses will not function optimally. He asked the Ministry of Cooperatives to ensure that trained companions are present at every point so that the Kopdes / Kel Merah Putih can operate optimally.

"This Village Cooperative Program must not fail, so whatever efforts must be made must go on the way to success, the Minister (Ferry Juliantono) must work hard," said Nurdin.