Palembang, The Indonesia Post – Governor of South Sumatra H. Herman Deru ensured that South Sumatra would soon have a Gabah Bank to improve the welfare of farmers and its people. He said this when he chaired a meeting with the leadership of PT Medco Agro Group and entourage, in the Governor’s meeting room, Tuesday (6/10/20) afternoon.
“This cooperation offer is in line with my thoughts, because 80 percent of the community’s profession in South Sumatra is agricultural. It is more harmonious because we have just been tapped (DPRD) as well as the agribusiness BUMD that we have proposed. Hopefully this will be a big door to our success in managing South Sumatra agriculture,” HD said.
As a governor who is very concerned with agriculture, Herman Deru explained that the management of unhulled rice into food that is ready to be served cannot be done partially. Therefore, he warmly welcomed the offer of cooperation in the hope that there would be an increase in agricultural production so that farmers would not become laborers on their own land.
One of the obstacles that HD often expressed during working visits to meet farmers in villages was the issue of rice size, which was still not uniform. According to him, this is different from the results of rice production in several famous rice-producing countries in the Asian region.
“Farmers not only need capital, but what is no less important is guidance to marketing. But we must first uniform (the rice) and this cooperation must be done. Because I believe the welfare of the people of South Sumatra is most likely to be realized from this agricultural sector,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Rice Mill (Perpadi), Ir Soetarto Alimoeso, accompanied by (Medco Agro Group) Yana Panigoro, said the cooperation offer to build a grain bank in South Sumatra was motivated by many reasons. Among them, South Sumatra has become one of the fourth main (surplus) national rice producers and a provider of unhulled rice / rice for other regions in Indonesia.
Then the trade of unhulled rice to other areas outside the province is not limited, but the added value of the grain / rice industry is less enjoyed by farmers and local communities.
In addition, said Soetarto, so far, most of the wet grain yields of farmers from a number of rice centers in South Sumatra have been brought out of the region. As a result, small rice mills with all their limitations are unable / difficult to absorb local grain. So that many are only as grinding service providers and even many are suspended animation.
For this reason, said Soetarto, the Grain Bank in South Sumatra needs to be built together which will function as a buffer / provider of grain for small rice mills.
“So far, some of the grain from Belitang travels everywhere, Lampung, Banten, to West Java. As a result, small rice mills are suspended due to not being able to compete for capital. That’s why our team wants to play a role here and the South Sumatra grain bank needs to be built to function as a support provider. unhulled rice for small rice mills. Of course in collaboration with BUMD Agribusiness, “he explained.
With the existence of the Grain Bank, Soetarto continued, it is hoped that the welfare of farmers will increase, rice mills that are “suspended animation” can return to life and maintain the stability of rice and food.
On that occasion, Soetarto was also accompanied by Mitra Tani Agro Unggul Group, Ir Benny A Kusbini, Polowijo Group, Ir Adhie Widiharto. Meanwhile in the meeting the Governor of South Sumatra H. Herman Deru was accompanied by the Head of South Sumatra Bappeda DR Ir Firmansyah MSc, and the Head of the South Sumatra Agricultural Service Ir. Antoni Alam MSi. (mhn/ril)
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