Menkop UKM Teten Make Sure The Government Will Accelerate Halal Certification For MSME Products

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki ensured that the government would accelerate the management of halal certification for products of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). "Yesterday, the President had a limited meeting and asked if he could be cut from 21 days to three days. This would be fun, how can we think about it," said Teten Masduki at the 2nd Jogja Halal Festival (JHF) at the Jogja Expo Center, Bantul, DI Yogyakarta, Thursday, November 3. According to Teten, a breakthrough to speed up the process is necessary considering the low halal-certified MSME products in Indonesia. Based on data on the achievement of halal certification, currently only around 725,000 halal certified products come from 405,000 MSMEs. In fact, the total number of MSMEs in the country reaches 64.2 million. "So, this is very small so synergy is needed with various parties to be able to encourage ownership of halal certification for MSMEs," he said, quoted from Antara. The Ministry of Religion's Halal Product Guarantee Agency (BPJPH), according to Teten, noted that around 30 million business products require halal certification. Meanwhile, if the duration of the certificate is still 21 to 25 days, it will take 600 years for all to be certified. "Meanwhile, in 2024, it must be finished, if it is not finished, the police will investigate it, so we must find a solution, not to burden our own people," he said. According to Teten, BPJPH in 2022 encourages facilitation of the issuance of 358,834 halal certifications for micro and small businesses through the Sehati program. "This is an opportunity for UMK actors to be able to access it," he said. With the increase in halal-certified MSME products, according to him, it will support them to compete in the global market, especially demographically, Indonesians dominate the number of Muslims in the world. Based on data from The State of The Global Islamic Economy Report 2022, he said the world's Muslims spent up to two trillion US dollars in 2021 in the halal industry sector starting from food, pharmaceuticals and tourism. "Meanwhile, in Indonesia, in terms of expenditure, is the largest consumer for the halal product market, where 87 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim," said Teten.