17 September 2021
Anonymous Writer
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Last Wednesday (17/9/2021), the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of the Universitas Sumatera Utara attended a gathering and discussion of opportunities for implementing the concept of integrated agribusiness (close loop) organized by Lapakbuah.com at Kebun Tiga Juhar, STM Hulu District, Delu Serdang Regency. Also attending the event was Assistant Deputy for Horticultural Agribusiness Development of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Yuli Sri Wilanti, MP, Member of North Sumatra Provincial Parliament H. Muhammad Subandi, S.T., representatives from the Agriculture Office, representatives from BNI and Bank Sumut, as well as several village heads and farmer groups in STM Hulu District.
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In his speech, Ir. M. Zein Ginting (Founder of Lapakbuah.com) explained that there is a plan to make 6 villages in STM HULU District, Deli Serdang Regency, namely Liang Pematang Village, Liang Muda, Tanjung Muda, Tanjung Raja, Durian Tinggung & Bah Buntu Village as a Fruit and Horticulture Village Area to drive the regional economy because the majority of people are farmers. The 6 villages have an area of approximately 1000 hectares, with longan and salak as the main commodities to be raised. The area used to be former oil palm land, and since it was replaced, it has been able to produce 9 times greater productivity than oil palm. In realizing the program, we expect significant assistance/support from all sides, both from the university, local government, and central government. ‘The Faculty of Agriculture USU (FP USU) may especially be able to help us in terms of making a master plan for this fruit and horticulture village,’ explained the founder of Lapakbuah.com. In addition, he also hopes that FP USU can help with the secondary process of these fruits, ‘The results could be made into products such as salak jam, salak chips, and others,’ he added.
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Closed-loop horticulture is a concept initiated by the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs to improve the governance of fruit development in Indonesia from upstream to downstream. ‘So this concept is how we develop inclusive partnerships between stakeholders starting from the provision of seeds, fertilizers, plant protection, assistance, digitalization of agriculture to monitor the process, post-harvest handling to connect to the offstake / market so that there is a guaranteed market and price,’ explained Asdep Kemenko Ekonomi Yuli Sri Wilanti, MP. The program is also expected to increase the acceleration of exports and substitution of domestic fruit imports. Until now, there have been 3 areas that have implemented the concept, namely Garut and Sukabumi Regencies in West Java and Sika Regency in East Nusa Tenggara. ‘Hopefully, in the future, we can work together with parties from North Sumatra. He also added that in the process of realizing the program, technology, support, and assistance from researchers and academics are needed, ‘Hopefully, through this meeting, we can also partner with the USU Faculty of Agriculture because wherever we are, we will definitely collaborate with academics because universities have a lot of human resources and can be more dedicated and even students can be involved in mentoring,’ he summarised.
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Responding to the invitation for cooperation related to the development of the Fruit and Horticulture Village, the dean of the USU Faculty of Agriculture, Dr Ir. Tavi Supriana, MS, explained his readiness to help and contribute. ‘We are ready to help make a master plan for Kampung Buah and Horticulture, and it would be very good if this program could be included in the Closed loop program of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs,’ she said. He also suggested that creating variety and maintaining sustainability are very important because if the Fruit Village can be included in the ministry's program later, it is hoped that the results of this fruit and horticulture village can help accelerate national exports and import substitution. ‘We are also ready to provide some problem-solving for several issues, such as improving fruit quality and handling secondary processes.’ Later, further coordination is needed with the Heads of Departments / Prodi in FP USU to make related research titles in the form of both lecturer research and student thesis research. ‘This is where our role as academics/universities is as a connection. University for industry. Even if necessary, with the independent campus program created by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, we can register fruit stalls as university partners so that students can do internships and even research directly here,’ concluded the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture USU.
On this occasion, members of the North Sumatra Provincial DPRD, the Department of Agriculture, and several banks also provided input for the implementation of the Fruit and Horticulture Village in STM Hulu District. The event on Wednesday was closed by a farm trip to Tiga Juhar Fruit Farm.
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