Jakarta (ANTARA) – Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman is encouraging collaboration with universities to strengthen research, innovation, and the development of value-added products in order to boost agricultural downstreaming.”Universities have an important role in driving the downstreaming of agricultural products,” he said at a national seminar marking the 85th anniversary of the Faculty of Agriculture at IPB University in Bogor, West Java, on Saturday, according to a statement on Sunday.According to him, collaboration between the government and universities, especially IPB University, has generated a real contribution to support the national food security.”IPB is the oldest agricultural university (in Indonesia) and has a monumental contribution, one of which is releasing the IPB 3S rice variety ten years ago,” he remarked.He noted that the direction of agricultural development has started to shift towards the plantation sector, such as coffee, cacao, and coconut. To this end, he is encouraging universities to establish clusters of downstreaming in accordance with the regions’ potential.”We have signed an MoU with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, to follow this up with a concrete program,” he added.He affirmed that the government provides large support for the program. The President has allocated Rp9.9 trillion (around US$601.3 million) with a target of distributing plantation seedlings to farmers with a total cultivation area of 800 thousand hectares.”All the seedlings will be given directly to the farmers so that they can truly enjoy the benefits,” he said.Furthermore, the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of IPB University, Suryo Wiyono, emphasized the importance of downstreaming in the development of agricultural products.”If it stops in the upstream, the agriculture sector will not develop, and the benefits for farmers will be less. To this end, an integration from upstream to downstream is necessary, including developing areas as centers of production and distribution,” Wiyono stated.
Minister encourages collaboration with varsities on agri downstreaming
