JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives (Menkop) Ferry Juliantono has joined hands with PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero) in an effort to build a cooperative-based palm oil plantation ecosystem in Indonesia. This cooperation was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which took place at the Office of the Ministry of Cooperatives (Kemenkop), Jakarta, Thursday, July 2.
"We want to build a model where PT Agrinas is the core, and palm oil cooperatives are developed as plasma partners. At least 20 percent of productive land will be managed by cooperatives," said Ferry, quoted on Friday, July 3.
Ferry explained that currently, there are 1,135 existing cooperatives that have been active in the palm oil sector and will be integrated into this new ecosystem.
Furthermore, the Minister of Cooperatives explained that through this cooperation, cooperatives are encouraged to not only have gardens, but also have their own processing plants.
"It is an irony if farmers have palm oil, but they have to queue for cooking oil. Cooperatives are instruments to make the palm oil trade more fair. We will accompany them so that they are professional and independent," he said.
As a concrete step, the Ministry of Cooperatives, Industry, and SMEs will inaugurate a cooperative-owned Crude Palm Oil (CPO) factory in Musi Banyuasin at the end of July or early August.
Ferry is optimistic that the involvement of cooperatives on a large industrial scale will significantly improve the welfare of farmers. He emphasized that cooperatives currently have the right financial capacity and experience.
"Cooperatives are now entering the production process, have their own CPO factories, to derivative products such as cooking oil or red cooking oil which will later be sold again in cooperatives. This is a form of people's economic sovereignty," said Ferry.
On the same occasion, the President Director of PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero), Muhammad Abdul Ghani, explained that his party was currently tasked with managing an area of 850,000 hectares in forest areas that had previously been taken over by the PKH Task Force. This land is planned to be expanded to reach 1.25 million hectares.
"Of the total land, at least 250,000 hectares will be allocated for plasma managed by around 250 cooperatives. We have also identified more than 120,000 hectares of people's oil palm, which until now the formal ties have not been clear, to be collected in cooperatives," explained Abdul Ghani.
Not only focusing on palm oil, this cooperation also includes the development of other strategic agricultural commodities to support national food and energy self-sufficiency. Hendra detailed, Agrinas will plant 400,000 hectares of soybeans, 250,000 hectares of corn, and 300,000 hectares of cassava as raw materials for renewable energy (ethanol).
"This means that from all aspects of Agrinas' business, we will partner with cooperatives. In North Sumatra alone, this year we will start piloting the planting of 1,500 hectares with cooperatives," he added.
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