DIGITALIZED AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO INCREASE FARM WELFARE

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo has inaugurated the entrepreneurship program and digitizing the agricultural system during his working visit to Indramayu Regency, West Java.

The program outlines efforts to improve the welfare of farmers in Indonesia by providing facilities and facilities for farmers to produce.

Director of Digital and Strategic Portfolio PT Telkom David Bangun said the program is an implementation of the vision of President Joko Widodo to gather the farmers into a large group that has a stronger competitiveness and economy.

Telkom itself plays a role in conducting the development and digitization of integrated agricultural systems through agricultural digital applications called Logistics Farming (Logtan).

"This program is an implementation of the direction of Mr. President for corporate agriculture, this is an initiative of the Ministry of SOEs, the Ministry of Village, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Regional Government where we formed the name of Mitra BUMDes Bersama (MBB) supported by the digitization of agricultural systems," he said. , quoted from his official statement on Thursday (7/6/2018).

LMBB in practice will become an entrepreneurship program channel by becoming a partner in various farming production activities such as the process of providing seeds, fertilizers, applying for community business loans, to the sale of agricultural produce.

"Today is the inauguration of a pilot project already underway in nine districts [West Java] .There is 11 MBB which is the implementation of the agricultural entrepreneurship," he said.

He continued, this program is an effort to make all programs from both state-owned government and ministries and departments can be channeled to farmers in an integrated manner so that efforts to improve the welfare of farmers will be more effective.

These efforts have covered the entire agricultural process from the stage of pratanam, planting, harvesting, and post-harvest.

"The whole process utilizes the digitization of the farming system (Logtan) which will include, among other things, a single farmer's data, land data, and transaction data, so that the channeling of agricultural programs from the government is effectively channeled to farmers," he added.

In other words, MBB is acting as an integrator of all SOEs in supporting agriculture. Later the farmers are quite related to the MBB when it requires the People's Business Credit, the need for seeds, agricultural production facilities, and insurance if the crop fails.

To note, MBB located at the place visited by President Jokowi, namely in District Sliyeg, Indramayu District, also has post-harvest facilities in the form of Integrated Rice Processing Center (SPBT).

The facility will absorb rice from local farmers by providing a favorable price for farmers. The rice is then packed in the best packaging so it releases their dependence on the practices of the middlemen.

Sales of agricultural products will also be done through e-commerce services.