Coordinating Minister Teten Masduki Supports Astra Prosperous Village Farmers To Develop Digital Smart Farming

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki (Photo: DOK Kemenkop/Ho)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki paid a working visit to the Astra Prosperous Village (DSA), to be precise at the Multi-Business Cooperative (KSU) of the Al Barokah Farmer Station, in Ketapang Village, Susukan District, Semarang Regency.

Menkop Teten hopes that the presence of large corporations will also improve the welfare of farmers. Including through the cooperative system developed.

"Why do we need to build a corporatization of farmers? If we continue to allow individual farmers on a narrow scale, the welfare of the role of farmers is difficult and it is also difficult for the state to obtain a stable food supply both in quality and quantity," said Coordinating Minister for Cooperatives Teten in his official statement, Saturday, 13 November.

During the visit, Menkop Teten Masduki reviewed organic rice farming and inaugurated digital smart farming development assistance for Al Barokah farmers.

To encourage modern agricultural corporations through the Digital Smart Farming program, around 1,000 hectares of land is needed. Together with Astra, Menkop Teten hopes that farmers in Al Barokah can consolidate their land so that their needs can be met.

"So we have to develop the Corporate Farming business model by consolidating individual farmers' lands, narrow lands into cooperatives, on an economic scale," said Teten.

Al Barokah Village is a producer of rice plants that are cultivated naturally, free from toxic pesticides and synthetic chemical fertilizers. Products from the Al Barokah Farmers Association directly fostered by PT. Astra International Through the Astra Welfare Village (DSA) program since 2019.

At the same time, Astra provided assistance of Rp. 200,000,000 and digital farming tools worth Rp. 100,000,000 to assist product development and also encourage product quality improvement from DSA Al Barokah.

With the help of digital smart farming technology from Astra, farmers can directly monitor through an Android-based application related to the physical, chemical and biological conditions of agricultural land.

The components of this technology include humidity sensors, soil pH, water quality, wind speed, pest cameras and plant development, as well as energy sourced from the sun or prayer panels.

Astra Corporate Affairs Chief Riza Deliansyah who was present with Menkop Teten hoped that his party could cooperate with the Revolving Fund Management Agency for Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (LPDB-KUMKM)

Astra, said Riza, will also communicate with the international community to market organic products from its fostered villages. One of the target market in the Middle East.

"We have also connected with several foreign buyers from the Middle East and so on, so that the products in Susukan have more added value. So it is not like the previous price, but we can provide higher prices for farmers so that they are more prosperous," he said. Riza.