This necessitates coordination between provincial or district offices with banks so that the disbursement of the KUR program could be beneficial for every Aceh residentJakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy III of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP), Panutan Sulendrakusuma, has called for the expansion of information dissemination on smallholder business credit (KUR) in regions, including Aceh, so that farmers can benefit from it.
He said the request was based on a field verification performed by a KSP team in Aceh that showed that are still farmers who do not understand KUR.
"This necessitates coordination between provincial or district offices with banks so that the disbursement of the KUR program could be beneficial for every Aceh resident," he noted in a press statement issued on Saturday.
The smallholder business credit program is the government's priority program for supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through interest subsidy provision to productive and worthy individuals and businesses, he explained.
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KUR financing can reach up to Rp100 million without additional collateral, he said.
In Aceh, the realization of KUR distribution in 2021 reached Rp1.6 trillion, with the total number of recipients reaching 30,943 people, he noted. This number exceeded the target of Rp1.4 trillion, Sulendrakusuma said.
For 2022, the government has raised the KUR disbursement target to Rp2.4 trillion, he added.
During the field verification in Aceh, the KSP team were informed that the farming sector in Batee Shook village, Sabang, has started to revive, Sulendrakusuma said.
One of the farmers from the village, Syaifuddin, told the KSP team that the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened the farming sector and has led him and other farmers to apply for KUR, he added.
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"Throughout the pandemic, we struggled to continue our daily activities. Which is why we communicated with Bank Syariah Indonesia to find a solution," the farmer told the team.
Syaifuddin also said that the KUR program had helped revive the farmers' activities. For instance, he said he had managed to plant several crops.
"As soon as the KUR was disbursed, I bought seeds and plant chili, onions, and long beans. Alhamdulillah (All praise is due to Allah), I managed to harvest them yesterday," Syaifuddin said.
Unfortunately, there are still many farmers who do not understand the KUR program, he told the KSP team. To this end, the KSP is encouraging bolstering of information dissemination on smallholder business credits in regions, Sulendrakusuma added.
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Translator: Rangga Jingga, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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