PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – On Friday (12/7), the Ministry of Cooperation and Small and Medium Business held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a palm oil mill and a red palm oil mill at KUD Sumber Makmur in the Village of Bukit Gajah, Regency of Pelalawan, Riau Province.
This initiative aims to bring significant improvements to local smallholders by integrating the entire process, from plantations and distribution to marketing their products.
Minister of Cooperation and Small and Medium Business, Teten Masduki, stated that the mills would be profitable due to the seamless integration of each process. He also mentioned that Malaysian investors have shown interest in red palm oil.
Also Read: President Joko Widodo Launches Red Palm Cooking Oil Pilot Project in North Sumatera
“No need to worry because the union would manage red palm oil mill, not big business,” he said, as Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from Antara, Monday (29/7/2024).
Teten also mentioned it would be significant to professionally manage the mill. The ministry would deliver trainings and development for the cooperation to confirm that the mill would be effectively managed. The key to manage the mill is human resource competency to compete in the markets.
“We would deliver trainings and development for the cooperation to professionally manage it. Competent human resources would be significant to manage and escalate the existence of the mill to be more competitive,” Teten said.
He hoped the red palm oil mill would be the way for the smallholders to escalate their welfare. They would play their roles not only to be material producer but also as part of industries. “Do not be smallholders always, but be entrepreneurs,” he said.
He was optimist to the construction because it would last for less than four months. the fund would be supported by Lembaga Pengelola Dana Bergulir (LPDB) Koperasi dan UMKM or LPDB-KUMKM.
This would be the strategic thing heading to smallholders’ economic independency in the regency. For the cooperation would manage the mill, the profits of the production and distribution would be directly got by the smallholders. This could be imitated by others to optimize the local potential and escalate the people’s economy.
The success of the mill would be the sample for cooperation to manage (palm oil) industry well and deliver economic advantages for the members significantly. “The fund would be supported by LPDB Koperasi dan UMKM or LPDB-KUMKM,” Teten said and showed the commitment of the government heading to economic independency through cooperation. (P2)
