The Ministry of Cooperatives has officially begun integrating the role of cooperatives into the downstream palm oil industry ecosystem. This strategic move is realized through a partnership with PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero) to build Crude Palm Oil (CPO) processing units managed directly by cooperatives.
Minister of Cooperatives, Ferry Juliantono, emphasized that this initiative is an implementation of President Prabowo Subianto's directive to improve the palm oil commodity trading system. By entering the processing sector, farmers are expected to no longer be mere raw material suppliers, but to hold control over the added value of the products generated.
As an initial step of this empowerment, the government has prepared the inauguration of a cooperative-owned CPO mill located in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra. This mill will produce cooking oil or red palm oil to be distributed directly to village cooperatives, an effort to build upstream-to-downstream economic self-reliance.
Meanwhile, the President Director of PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara, Muhammad Abdul Ghani, explained that his side has prepared a land allocation of 250,000 hectares specifically to be managed by 250 cooperatives as plasma plantations. Besides focusing on the palm oil industry, the company also aims to expand partnerships with cooperatives for the development of other strategic commodities such as soybeans, corn, and cassava to support national food and energy self-sufficiency.
