VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Before 500 farmers, President Joko Widodo pointed out that the role of farmers will be increasingly important and strategic in the future so it should continue to be developed along with the advancement of digitalization of agricultural technology. The President was quoted by Antara News Agency as saying that it is time for the farmers to improve themselves in order to increase their productivity. On the sidelines of a working visit, President Joko Widodo launched ‘the Agricultural Entrepreneurship and Digitalization Program of Agriculture’ in Sliyeg District, Indramayu Regency, West Java, on last Thursday (7/6). During his visit, President Joko Widodo was accompanied by Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Rini Soemarno, Agriculture Minister, Andi Amran Sulaiman, Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto,  Deputy Chairman of Commission 6 of the House of Representatives -DPR, Dito Ganinduto and several directors of the State Owned Enterprises -SOEs. President Joko Widodo emphasized that the role of farmers is very strategic because food will become one of the commodities to be in great demand by most countries. The President also affirmed, the necessity to digitize agriculture supported by entrepreneurship capability of farmers becomes the main factor to win the competition in food sector. The President also emphasized the importance of developing the technology and entrepreneurial ability of farmers when post-harvest comes. Because, a lot of benefits can be obtained by the farmers. President Joko Widodo visited directly Mitra Usaha Milik Desa Bersama (MBB) Sliyeg who is also a partner of PT Telkom Indonesia. The MBB has a Village Owned Enterprise at regency level consisting of 14 Village Owned Enterprises and a Joint Group of Farmers (Gapoktan) Association, which consists of 127 Farmer Groups (Poktan) and 7,009 Farmers. Sliyeg's MBB production is 54,000 tons per year with a total land area of ​​4,384 hectares. MMB Sliyeg is one of the farmer entrepreneurship pilot projects that implement agricultural digitization system with an application of "Farm Logistics"  (LOGTAN). This application becomes a digital platform that integrates four cycles of agriculture. They are pre-planting, planting, harvesting, and post-harvesting in a bid to improve productivity and farmer's welfare. The types of MBB services include financing of People's Business Credit (KUR / Non-KUR), fertilizer distribution and horticultural marketplace with major customers of farmers and Village Owned Enterprises. President Joko Widodo said that such a business model would be evaluated within the next six months or a year. If the first program in Indramayu is successful, the government will do it for farmer groups in other regions. In essence, Indonesia wants to build a more efficient farmer corporation organization which is able to give farmers great benefits and  these models can be developed because the biggest benefit is post-harvest.