Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said the plan was currently in the pre-feasibility study phase and expressed hope that the project could begin in January. — The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA: State asset fund Danantara plans to invest 20 trillion rupiah in poultry farming, particularly in suppliers for the government’s free nutritious meal programme, to prevent potential supply shortages.
Danantara chief investment officer Pandu Sjahrir said on Tuesday that the plan would be discussed with the House of Representatives “this week,” after which the fund would “share” the finalised proposal.
Dony Oskaria, Danantara chief operating officer, added that the fund was awaiting a formal document from an unspecified ministry that would outline the commissioning details.
“Danantara, of course, as a corporation, will thoroughly review [the plan] and carry it out in accordance with good corporate governance,” Donny said, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia.
The government plans to channel the funds into establishing chicken and egg farms to support President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme.
Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, who also heads the National Food Agency, said the poultry farm initiative was among the outcomes of a meeting on downstream development in agriculture, food, plantations, horticulture and animal husbandry, which involved multiple ministries and government agencies.
Amran said last Friday that the meeting concluded there was a need to accelerate investment in coconut, cacao, cashew, palm oil and poultry farming, “which will have a specific budget of 20 trillion rupiah”.
The minister added that the poultry project would be implemented nationwide to prevent shortages of chicken and eggs once the free meals programme operates at full scale, which is expected to require an additional 700,000 tonnes of eggs and 1.1 million tonnes of chicken annually.
“We’ll make all of Indonesia supply the free meals programme.
“There shouldn’t be any shortage of eggs and chicken, so we’ll prepare for it from now,” Amran said.
He noted that the plan was currently in the pre-feasibility study phase and expressed hope that the project could begin in January, “God willing.”
He estimated that the poultry farming initiative could create around three million direct and indirect jobs over the next four years.
Poultry farming is part of a broader national food downstream acceleration programme, which Amran said would involve total investments of 371 trillion rupiah.
Additionally, eggs and chicken were among the main contributors to volatile food inflation, which rose 6.6% year-on-year in October, the highest level in more than two years.
Eggs and chicken recorded annual inflation of 4.43% and 1.13%, respectively, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
Furthermore, BPS official Pudji Ismartini said on Nov 3 that rising prices for chicken and eggs were influenced by the free meals programme, as its kitchens sourced supplies from markets, retailers and wholesalers.
However, she clarified that BPS “does not calculate inflation directly attributed to the [free meals] programme,” adding that regional inflation linked to the initiative could not be specifically identified in the agency’s data. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
