Teten Invites Farmers To Cooperate To Have Added Value

JAKARTA - The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki invites farmers to join cooperatives because they can get great added value and improve productivity.

"So these farmers should not try to be individual and compete with each other, but there must be a design model for their business. This can be realized through cooperatives," he said in a written statement quoted by Antara, Saturday, June 11.

He gave an example of Indonesia's coffee productivity which is still less developed than other countries. In fact, 96 percent of coffee in Indonesia is produced in farmers' gardens.

Moreover, he continued, coffee from the country has a variety of varieties in various regions from Aceh to Papua. This is considered to make Indonesian coffee the most complete in the world.

"We only have problems in terms of productivity and processing. Some of them are dried on the roadside with dust, some are sent mixed with other products such as shrimp paste. We have to solve this," he said.

Teten believes that the presence of cooperatives can solve problems, such as the lack of development of coffee productivity.

"Cooperatives must also appear as off takers. So, they buy farmers' crops in cash. Farmers don't have to worry about where their products are sold, farmers only focus on maintaining their farms," said the Coordinating Minister.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Regional Board of the Indonesian Peasant Union (DPW SPI) North Sumatra, Zubaidah, previously said that farmers would not depend on large companies if they cooperated.

"When we have a cooperative, the price of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) will no longer depend on the industry, moreover there is a plan from the government to build a red edible oil factory by cooperatives. This is the right time and we must take advantage of the development of red edible oil through cooperatives, " said Zubaidah.