The Indonesian government is undergoing a fundamental overhaul of the palm oil commodity trading system. Minister of Cooperatives, Ferry Juliantono, revealed that President Prabowo Subianto has given strict instructions for cooperatives to be actively involved in the palm oil business chain, from plantation management to the production of derivative products such as cooking oil.
This strategic move is taken as a concrete effort to strengthen the people's economy. So far, the palm oil industry sector has tended to be dominated by private corporations, both upstream and downstream. This disparity triggers an ironic phenomenon, where palm oil farmers actually struggle to get access to cooking oil, which is a processed product of the commodity they produce themselves.
Ferry emphasized that cooperatives will be positioned as the main instrument to bring about economic justice. By integrating cooperatives into the production process, the government hopes that farmers will not only act as raw material suppliers, but also become main players who enjoy the added value of downstream products with higher economic value.
As a concrete step, the Ministry of Cooperatives has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Persero). This collaboration focuses on forming a cooperative-based plantation ecosystem, where cooperatives will receive management mentoring, human resource capacity building, and more professional management of plasma land.
This pilot project will soon be realized through the inauguration of a cooperative-based CPO factory in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra, scheduled to operate in the near future. The factory with a capacity of 60 tons per hour is projected to become a role model for cooperative development in other strategic commodities, such as corn, soybeans, and cassava, to expand community involvement in the national economic engine.
