[Unpad.ac.id, 25/10/2013] Minister of Indonesian State-owned enterprise (SOEs), Dahlan Iskan, challenged researchers and students of the Faculty of agricultural Industry Technology (FTIP) of Universitas Padjadjaran to invent efficient technology in order to improve Indonesian farming industry. The challenges associated with the agricultural revolution of the Indonesia’s effort that he initiated.
Dahlan expressed this when giving public lectures at the Seminar of “Agro-Technopreneurship” organized by student executive body of FTIP Unpad, on Friday (25/10) in Wahana Bhakti Pos building, Bandung. According to Dahlan, the current agricultural product Indonesia hasn’t been able to compete at international level.
Take for example our fruit industry. As a tropical country, Indonesia has a rich variety of fruits. However, our fruit market is, ironically, dominated by imported fruits. “I once walked into a fruit market in China. In the market, there was only one small box of Indonesian mangosteen. It’s funny if we are flooded with fruits from China and yet, we cannot export our fruits to China,” said Dahlan.
One of the causes of this problem is the lengthy harvest time. Tropical fruits tend to have a long harvest period. It becomes the responsibility of agricultural researchers to produce a variety of potential fruit marketed abroad with short harvest time. “Mangosteen fruit, for example, needs 7 years to harvest. I challenge you, can you produce mangosteen fruit with only 4 years of harvest period?” Dahlan challenged the students.
Dahlan also highlight the rarity of soybean in Indonesia. In case you haven’t heard, Indonesia has been importing soya from the USA to fulfill our needs of soybean. Dahlan revealed, soybean sector has not yet rendered its full potential. Some farmers are still reluctant to plant soy because its low profit.
Dahlan compared the number of soybean production in Indonesia with the United States. In Indonesia, in 1 hectare of land farmers can only produce about 1 – 1,4 tons of soybeans. In America, soybeans could reach 4 tons for one hectare of land. Moreover, most American soybeans are transgenic
“Ini juga menjadi pekerjaan rumah bagi mahasiswa FTIP, bagaimana bisa menghasilkan kedelai nontransgenik yang mampu diproduksi minimal 2 ton dalam satu hektar. Sebab, jika produksi meningkat maka laba pun akan ikut meningkat dengan harga jual yang konstan,” kata Dahlan.
“It also becomes a homework for the students of FTIP to produce non-transgenic soybean capable of producing at least 2 tons a hectare. If production is increased then the profits will also be increased with constant selling price, “said Dahlan.
Dahlan hopes that every student of FTIP can invent efficient technology in agriculture. This is because, besides being able to increase agricultural productivity, any student can become an entrepreneur in agricultural business.
“Farming industry also needs attention. There are various technologies that can be developed out of the right understanding of various agricultural problems we’re facing. That’s what the Faculty of Engineering is for,” Dahlan concluded.
This Seminar was held in the framework of the 8th Anniversary FTIP Unpad. In addition to the public lecture by Dahlan , also present Ir. Hj. Dewi Nurhayati, MSi. (The head of The oil and gas and Resource Conservation AGENCY), Dr. Ira n. Djarot (Assistant Deputy of research and science and technology community Kemenristek), and Dr. Dwi Purnomo, S.T.P., m. t. (Unpad FTIP Lecturer ). The dean of FTIP Unpad and Chairman of the Institute of Development of Student Affairs and Alumni Relations Unpad were also present. *
