JAKARTA – As a form of support for the Food Estate program, the Agricultural Counseling and Human Resources Development Agency (BPPSDMP) of the Ministry of Agriculture.  developed farmer corporations. In this way, it is expected that agricultural yields from the Food Estate location can be maximized.

Food Estate itself is one of the strategic programs for national agricultural development in 2021. The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo  expressed his hope that this year the Food Estate program can be completed immediately. After it is carried out, the next step is to evaluate it to see the obstacles that occur in the field,  hoping that it can serve as an example for the other Provinces.

“This is the way of agricultural development that we must aim for, namely through a wide scale and using agricultural technology, so that later the cost of production can compete with the price of the same commodity with other countries,” said President Joko Widodo, as quoted from the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture. 

There are currently two food estates in Central Kalimantan and Humbang Hasundutan in North Sumatra. 

Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo explained that the development of Horticultural Food Estate is one of the Ministry of Agriculture’s super priority programs. 

“The purpose of horticulture-based food estate is to build an integrated horticultural area that is competitive, environmentally friendly and modern, encourage synergy with stakeholders in the development of horticulture-based food estate, and encourage the formation of corporate-based farmer institutions,” he explained.

The main commodities developed in the Food Estate include potatoes as industrial raw materials, shallots, and garlic.

The food estate area in Central Kalimantan (Kalteng) will be cultivated on an area of 168,000 hectares (ha). In 2020, 30,000 ha will be worked on and used as pilot model. 

This land exists in Pulang Pisau district covering 10,000 ha and Kapuas district 20,000 ha. The total area prepared is approximately 1000 hectares. The area under cultivation is 215 hectares. 

Ditargetkan peningkatan luas tanam dan produksi komoditas bawang merah, bawang putih dan kentang serta memperkuat kerjasama dan sinergi antar petani dengan stakeholders terkait.

“This project will cultivate around 30,000 hectares of land to be managed for the next three years. In 2020, work will begin on an integrated cluster of 1,000 hectares as a national pilot program” he explained. 

The minister of Agriculture stated that the development of the Food Estate area has became a large-scale program. And that mechanization of modern tools are absolutely crucial, so does involvement of local farmers.

“The development of farmer corporations is a priority so that farmers control agricultural production and business from upstream to downstream,” he said.

Farmer corporations are not just based on the productivity and quality of agricultural production, but more on the ability to run a profit-oriented business. Farmers must make a profit. Farmers need to sell rice as a downstream product, not grain as an upstream product. The same goes for other processed products from agricultural commodities grown in the food estate. For this reason, BPPSDMP will support readiness in the aspect of agricultural human resources for the Food Estate.

Meanwhile, the Head of BPPSDMP of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dedi Nursyamsi, stated that his staff is ready to work for the Food Estate in Humbahas, North Sumatra and Central Kalimantan by guarding and assisting agricultural human resources to support farmer corporations.

“We will ensure that assistance to farmers in the Food Estate location is maximized. Maximizing the performance of BPPSDMP, to ensure Food Estate farmers receive assistance, especially in terms of farmer corporations,” he said on the sidelines of a field visit to Humbahas.

Dedi Nursyamsi said that BPPSDMP will deploy counselors. According to him, the counselors workers play an important role in farmer corporations in food estates. Work culture/ethos, knowledge, commodities, and infrastructure. 

The second is in terms of establishing a business model, building institutions and legality, fostering institutional governance, and running business processes. Third, implementing promotional outputs including partnerships, capital and investment. 

“Counselors also play a role in supporting farmers’ access to markets. Increasing the added value of production into processed products. Not raw materials, which so far have not brought much profit to farmers,” he said. 

Agricultural development in the food estate area is carried out through existing modern technology. In the food estate development area, a corporate business model will be built. The development of this Food Estate area is carried out with intensive swampland optimization technology to increase production and cropping index (IP).

The Food Estate can be achieved to the best of its abilities when worked with Kubota’s agricultural machineries, which not only has guaranteed performance and also backed with highly qualified after-sales network. Kubota after-sales network is spread across various regions in Indonesia, supported by 11 authorized Kubota dealerships alongside their trusty and reliable mechanics. Kubota Agricultural Machineries also came with warranties and proven performance with its genuine spare parts which can be bought easily at your nearby Kubota dealership.