CIKAMPEK - PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) continues to strengthen the collaboration of the Makmur program to enhance national food productivity. The reinforcement of the Makmur ecosystem becomes crucial amid the global food crisis threat. This was conveyed by the President Director of Pupuk Indonesia, Rahmad Pribadi, during the Makmur Jamboree at the Pupuk Kujang Cikampek area on Saturday (11/11/2023).

"At present, world food productivity is at its lowest in the last 60 years. Therefore, intuitively, all countries will secure their own food needs, restrict exports, and so on," said Rahmad.

Therefore, he continued, Indonesia needs to secure its food needs. The strategy is to increase agricultural productivity in various ways, not only by adding fertilizer factories and young people or experts in agriculture but also by building and strengthening agricultural cultivation ecosystems.

Rahmad explained that the Makmur program is an ecosystem that supports farmers from upstream to downstream, ensuring that both the cultivation and marketing processes of agricultural products run optimally. Through the Makmur program, farmers have easy access to three things.

The first is access to technology. The Pupuk Indonesia Group, in implementing the Makmur program, provides agricultural technology assistance. Rahmad gave an example, the use of Smart Precision Farming technology or precision farming. One of them is through drones equipped with several features to make fertilization more effective, efficient, and in line with plant needs, resulting in optimal yields.

"The drones used by Petrokimia Gresik in Smart Precision Farming are sophisticated, not only capable of spreading fertilizer but also mapping the condition of plants so that the precision-applied fertilizer meets the plant's needs," said Rahmad.

The second ease that farmers get from the Makmur program is access to markets. This makes the selling value of farmers' harvests more optimal because farmers have direct market access, thus promoting farmers' welfare.

"Like our Makmur program in Pati, usually after harvesting, it is sold to collectors, collectors to large collectors, large collectors to traders, and traders to the end. In Pati, Makmur farmers sell their produce directly to the food industry," explained Rahmad.

Finally, Rahmad revealed the third ease of the Makmur program, which is access to capital. In this Makmur program, Pupuk Indonesia collaborates with banks to provide capital access to farmers. Additionally, there is also insurance to protect farmers from the risk of crop failure.

Taruna Makmur

Meanwhile, Pupuk Indonesia's next strategy to increase food productivity is to introduce Taruna Makmur (Makmur Youth). These Taruna Makmur will provide cultivation assistance and agronomic services to farmers who join the Makmur Program.

In this Makmur Jamboree, Pupuk Indonesia sent as many as 76 Taruna Makmur. They are students from the Agricultural Development Polytechnic (Polbangtan) from five regions across Indonesia, namely Bogor Polbangtan, Yogyakarta Polbangtan, Malang Polbangtan, Medan Polbangtan, and Gowa Polbangtan, who received special training before being dispatched.

In detail, there are 40 Taruna Makmur under the guidance of Petrokimia Gresik, then 10 Taruna Makmur from Pupuk East Kalimantan, 8 from Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang, 15 from Pupuk Kujang Cikampek, and the remaining 3 from Pupuk Iskandar Muda.

"We open this as wide as possible because the issue of food is a matter of the sustainability of our nation. Therefore, this is our shared responsibility. I invite everyone to participate in this Makmur program," Rahmad concluded.