Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto in an official statement in Jakarta, Thursday, said that downstreaming of plantation commodities triggers competitiveness and increases added value, which has an impact on the national economy.
“Downstream is able to create jobs, create added value, increase foreign exchange, and create a positive trade balance. If we do not move from downstream, the value will not increase, therefore the downstreaming of various commodities must be encouraged,” said Airlangga.
Downstreaming by the government has been able to increase the export value of a number of commodities, such as palm oil, which will grow to US$28.52 billion in 2021, and iron and steel, which will also grow to US$21.47 billion.
The government has also prepared financing assistance through the People’s Business Credit (KUR) which has a ceiling of IDR 373.17 trillion in 2022 and will increase by IDR 470 trillion in 2023.
Airlangga explained that the use of KUR can be a long-term investment option for agricultural sector actors, especially in oil palm commodities.
“In the agricultural sector, IDR 70 trillion has been given KUR and it can increase because there is no limit for the agricultural sector, then the government is also trying to encourage group KUR whose implementation has not been optimal,” he said.
Meanwhile, he conveyed that the availability of rice was at a safe level to meet domestic needs with production achievements of up to 31 million tons in the last three years. With this achievement, Indonesia managed to get an award from the International Rice Research Institute (IRR) in the midst of a pandemic situation and food crisis that occurred in various countries.
Coordinating Minister Airlangga also invited various parties, both corporations and local governments to be able to encourage the progress of various other commodities by aggressively promoting and marketing the products produced so as to encourage the welfare of farmers.
The agricultural sector has succeeded in leveraging the performance of the national economy with a contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of 12.98 percent. One of the important roles of agriculture is supported by the performance of the plantation sub-sector as the main contributor with a share of agricultural GDP up to 27 percent.
For this reason, the government seeks to continue to optimize the plantation sub-sector through various steps in order to encourage agricultural performance that has an impact on the national economy, one of which is downstreaming. (mhn/bbs)
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