Jakarta (ANTARA) – Up until today, Indonesia is still facing stunting or malnutrition problem that hampers healthy growth of children. According to data released by WHO, Indonesia is still included in the third country with highest number of toddlers’ stunting In South East Asia, reaching as high as 36,4%.
Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir said that one of the causes of the high rate of stunting in this country is the low consumption of milk in Indonesia. He added that data from Central of Statistical Bureau (BPS) of 2020 showed that the average consumption of milk per capita per year was only 16,27 kg. This figure is still far below the neighboring country such as Malaysia (26.20 kg / capita / year); Myanmar (26.7 kg/capita/year); and Thailand (22.2 kg/capita/year).
Erick said that the national current requirement for milk reach 4,4 million ton per year. Meanwhile, domestic production of fresh milk has only met 21% of the total need. “Demand for milk continues to increase, but the domestic production is still incapable to meet with such increase,” he said.
With the above phenomenon, the Government of Indonesia, through the Ministry of SOE’s continues to exert its best efforts to increase domestic production of fresh milk. One of the efforts is through improvement of production of fresh milk in the mainstream sector by creating partnership between dairy farmers and cooperative and large industries.
“The Ministries of SOEs has actively encouraged involvement of State-owned companies to provide supports, either through cooperation to provide land, involvement in food supply chain, assistance, as well as through financing for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises,” added Erick.
One of the solutions to increase national production of fresh milk, the Ministry of SOEs through Nusantara Plantation Holding PTPN III (Persero) and ID Food, will collaborate with FrieslandCampina, one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the world that is owned by more than 16,500 dairy farmers.
This collaboration will be developed by Holding of Nusantara Plantation III (Persero), ID Food and Frisian Flag Indonesia as one of the subsidiaries of FrieslandCampina. PTPN III (Persero) Nusantara Plantation Holding through its subsidiary, PTPN VIII, will provide land area for livestock. The land provision is the implementation of asset optimization program, especially for non-productive land managed by PTPN Group.
Meanwhile, ID FOOD and its subsidiaries will supply animal feed to dairy farms established as an implementation of the cooperation. HVA will gather the investment fund and operator in the development of this dairy farm. To accommodate productions, Frisian Flag Indonesia will become the off-taker.
At the initial stage, there will be 4,000 units of dairy cows developed on land owned by PTPN VIII located in the West Java Region.
Erick said that the cooperation carries "from grass to glass" phase concepts. "So, fresh milk is derived from the best cows, then it is produced in factories until its distribution process, managed with strict controls to ensure that the consumers get the best quality products," he said.
Through this cooperation, population of dairy cow as well as production of domestic fresh milk production is expected to increase. "We are ready to take this cooperation and will ensure that this project also brings multiplier effects to the community's economy, especially the domestic dairy production ecosystem," Erick concluded.
Reporter: PR Wire
Editor: PR Wire
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