KARO - Corn farmers in Limang Village, Tigabinanga District, Karo Regency, North Sumatra (North Sumatra) are happy because their corn commodity cultivation has increased productivity after participating in the Prosperous Program initiated by BUMN Minister Erick Thohir.

The program, which means Let's Advance People's Business, is carried out on an area of 1 hectare out of a total arable land area of 10 hectares. PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) Agrosolution Project Manager (PM) M. Burmansyah K said that the initial corn commodity harvest in Karo Regency experienced an increase in productivity of around 66 percent.

"So here, we start with a pilot on 1 hectare of land. Initial information is that we can harvest corn of around 6-7 tons per hectare, and after following the Prosperous Program for tile yields (calculation of the initial harvest) the initial harvest of corn commodities here is around 10 tons. per hectare," said Burmansyah, Wednesday (11/1/2023).

He explained that the increased productivity of corn farmers in Karo was due to collaboration between SOEs which created beneficial ecosystems for farmers. Meanwhile, a comprehensive agricultural ecosystem supported by several BUMNs, such as ID Food, Himbara, insurance BUMN and so on. Starting from the provision of funds or working capital in synergy with banking institutions, insurance guarantees, availability of fertilizers, pest control controls, to offtakers. This program guarantees productivity and welfare for farmers.

"We hope that the Prosperous Program will continue and provide benefits to farmers," said Burman.

PM Makmur IDFOOD, Adri Muchtar said that the Prosperous Program was an effort by the government, in this case the Ministry of SOEs, to improve the welfare of farmers through increased productivity. "Because of the expectations of the Minister of BUMN, Pak Erick Thohir BUMN is here to improve the welfare of farmers who focus on 5 commodities, namely rice, corn, sugar cane, palm oil and coffee," said Adri.

The Head of the Karo Regency Agriculture Office, Metesha KK Purba expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of BUMN for implementing the Prosperous program in Karo Regency. According to him, Karo Regency has a big contribution to corn production in North Sumatra.

He said, Karo Regency contributed around 43 percent to the production of corn commodity or the largest in North Sumatra. "I am grateful for the Makmur Program's first corn harvest event. I think this is the first corn harvest for the Makmur program in Karo land, the production is around 10 tons per hectare. The Makmur program is also a BUMN collaboration that provides certainty for farmers because it provides funding and offtakers," he said .

Baskami Brahmana, one of the corn farmers in Karo Regency, said he was happy to have joined the Ministry of BUMN's Prosperous program. He said that the Makmur program can provide assistance from start to harvest, as well as certainty about fertilizer and harvest yields.

"Today's corn harvest feels happy. We as farmers have had difficulties with fertilizer, we were given capital by the Prosperous Program we can buy fertilizer in cash, there are no more costs and the interest from this financing is low," said Baskami.

He also hopes that the Prosperous Program will be followed by many farmers in Karo Regency. "Hopefully this program will continue, it will really help the community, if necessary, BUMN will directly buy our crops so that there will be no more unclear prices in the future," he added.