Jakarta, Oct 10 (Antara) - Calcium-rich milk is something that children, adults and even the elderly need to maintain their health and ensure their bones remain strong to support the body.
Yet, Indonesia, with a population of about 250 million, is not yet able to produce adequate milk to meet its domestic needs. As of now, it produces only about 20 percent of the seven million liters required daily.
According to Cooperatives, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SME) Minister Puspayoga, Indonesia must not allow this situation to continue.
Milch cow farmers must increase and maintain the quality of their milk production. All milk produced domestically, including by members of cooperatives, should be absorbed by the milk-processing industry (IPS) in order to meet the domestic need and reduce imports.
An executive of one of the country's food and drinks company, PT Nestle Indonesia, argued that to increase productivity and improve the quality of milk, local milch cow farmers should adopt sustainable breeding practices.
"The key to increasing production and improving quality is to adopt sustainable breeding practices and to optimize cowshed cleanliness," R Wisman Djaja, PT Nestle Indonesia's director for sustainability agriculture development and procurement affairs, said in Malang, East Java on Saturday (Oct 9).
The government, according to Minister Puspayoga, is now trying to resolve the constraints being faced by milch cow farmers and milk processing industries.
The minister recently reviewed the situation on the ground by visiting a milk cooperative, the North Bandung Milk Producer Cooperative (KPSBU) in Lembang, West Java.
In order to increase production, the government is now drafting a regulation to boost the productivity of milk in the country. "In the future, we will increase our milk production and improve its quality in keeping with this regulation. As of now, our need for milk has reached seven million liters per day but our farmers are only able to meet 20 percent of it," noted Minister Puspayoga.
Therefore, three ministries, namely the Ministry of Cooperatives, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture are working closely to draft the regulation.
The Ministry of Cooperatives, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises is also now providing guidelines for cattle farming cooperatives because cooperatives are expected to boost production of milk in the country.
KSPBU Chairman Dedi Setiadi appreciated the government's seriousness to help boost the production of milk cooperatives. "We hope that the IPS would have an agreement with the milk producer cooperatives to absorb all the milk produced by the cooperatives," Dedi Setiadi in Bandung, West Java, stressed last week.
The KPSBU produces milk as per the quality norms set by the National Production Standard (SNI). Hence, all of its production is absorbed by the IPS. Dedi Setiadi also appreciated the willingness of the government to set the basic reference prices of milk at the farmers' and cooperatives' level.
The reference prices should be fixed based on the cost at the farmers' and the cooperatives' level.
"If the milk price is very low at the farmers' level, it will benefit the IPS a lot because the IPS' selling price is not lowered. Therefore, it is not fair if I lower the price of milk produced by the farmers," Dedi Setiadi explained.
Lembang KPSBU is the largest milk producer cooperative in Indonesia with an SNI-quality milk production of 140 tons per day. It has 6,000 farmer members and a total of 16,400 milch cows.
After all, food and milk processing industries want the cooperatives' milk to be hygienically clean and conform to the SNI standards.
PT Nestle Indonesia, for example, encourages milch cow farmers to optimize the cleanliness of their cow houses to increase milk production.
R Wisman Djaja of PT Nestle Indonesia reminded that besides keeping cowsheds clean, the quality of forage and the seeds of heifers should also be improved so that productivity could be raised.
"It must be ensured that heifers meet the quality standards required for increasing milk productivity," Wisman Djaja pointed out during an event, titled 'Appreciation of Breeders - 150 Years of Nestle,' which was also attended by Panggah Susanto, the director general for agro-industry affairs, in Malang, East Java on Monday.
In the meantime, Panggah Susanto asked milk-processing industries to establish cooperation with milch cow breeders, so cattle farmers can also benefit from the business.
"Milch cow breeders are expected to benefit from partnering with industries," he said in a press statement in Jakarta on Monday.
The partnership program is expected to increase the competitive edge of the industry as it is supported by an abundant fresh milk supply as raw material, which is sustainable and of good quality.
Panggah pointed out that the program can improve milk production management and production facilities and increase the quality and productivity of milk production.
The immediate effect will be an increase in milk production and improved prosperity among the breeders.
The ministry of industry lauded the move by PT Nestle Indonesia, which has continued for over 40 years to invite the participation of 27 thousand milch cow breeders in East Java Province.
Through this partnership program, the company continues to absorb 500 thousand liters of milk per day from breeders, to be processed in the company's factory.
According to Wisman Djaja, the cooperation guarantees that Nestle will receive high-quality raw material supplies from the farmers.
At the same time, breeders will get an easy market for increasing their production.
Panggah hoped that through the partnership program, the company would produce high-quality processed milk that is affordable for consumers, encouraging them to increase their milk consumption.
"We hope Nestle will consistently maintain their commitment to using fresh local milk and developing the partnership program even more," the director general remarked.***3***
(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 10-10-2016 21:44: |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar