Agribusiness falls short of expectations: Expert

By Joko Sarwono

BOGOR, West Java (JP): The 1993 State Policy Guidelines, Indonesia's development blueprint for the past five years, provides numerous stipulations on agribusiness development, but realization is far from expectations.

"What has been achieved is far from what has been expected," said Didin S. Damanhuri, an agricultural economist at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB).

The state policies, for instance, stress the need for better participation of farmers and better management of the agro- industry and agribusiness to diversify production, increase value and competitiveness. The document also calls for better farming skills and mastery of agricultural technology, which should be cultivated through public education and training.

The problem is not many people are motivated to treat agribusiness as a primary choice of enterprise, said Didin, who received his doctorate degree from the Institut de Recherche Economique et Planifiation du Developpement in Grenoble, Paris.

So far, he said, agribusiness has remained an ornament of the state's development blueprint.

"We at IPB believe it is important to accelerate agribusiness development," he said, adding that the institute now has 500 doctorate holders who work with modern facilities to help boost development.

The experts believe that one way to go about their duties is through the dissemination of information. The institute entrusted Didin, 44, the task of setting up the Asia Pacific Agribusiness Information Center in August 1966.

Didin, who is also the chief of the Socioeconomic Department of the Faculty of Fisheries as well as commissioner of the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), spoke recently to The Jakarta Post on the establishment and the work of the center.

Question: Why agribusiness?

Answer: The first 25-years of national development has resulted in the establishment of industries which rely on the comparative advantage of cheap labor. This was inefficient on the global level. In this globalization era what needs to be developed is business with competitive advantage. Agribusiness is an example of this kind of business.

Indonesia is rich in natural resources, especially agriculture that includes fisheries. Seventy-five percent of Indonesia's territory is sea... and our sea resources are not only fish.

Indonesia is a sleeping giant. If these resources are combined with the latest technology, such as biotechnology... Indonesia can be a giant that can actually rise to prominence.

Q: Why did you decide to build an information center for the Asia Pacific, and not just Indonesia?

A: There's a hypothesis of international development observers that the center of economic growth is shifting from the Atlantic to the Asia Pacific region. This hypothesis has been proven with the rise of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan's role, the Asian tigers and the existence of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Q: What does this information center strive to achieve?

A: It is the duty of this institute to identify the value of Indonesian communities' age-old wisdom. This wisdom should be combined with the latest ideas from various centers of progress in various parts of the world. It is hoped that in the future Indonesia can be successful in global competition because of its identity... John Naisbitt once said that it is Asian values that can beat the progress of the West.

Q: What other things are you trying to achieve?

A: We try to make the "weak" more effective. We are studying how to help farmers obtain the widest margin of profits from their activities, for instance by shortening the long-chain of marketing. We nurture them and connect them with big businesses which have an extensive market reach. This is where the experience of the institute comes into play.

The institute, for instance, has succeeded in helping farmers in Cipanas, West Java, apply biotechnology for vegetable plantation. We also helped them establish contact with... the Gelael supermarket (chain).

Q: How does the information center work?

A: The center endeavors to create... cooperations. We absorb academic ideas from research institutes and study centers, both within and outside of the institute, for instance through the Internet. The academic information is processed into materials which are easier to be digested and in the form of the latest technology packages that can be distributed to the community.

In September, we set up our own homepage. Hopefully it can start to be accessed in November. In addition, a periodical is being prepared. Its first issue is scheduled to appear this month and will be made available to the public.

The center is also actively reaching out to farmers in Cipanas and in Malang, East Java.

Q: Could you tell us more about the center's homepage?

A: At the moment we're preparing the database, namely data on subjects connected to agribusiness such as market developments, prime commodities of the day and biotechnology development. When this database is ready, we'll be 50 percent successful.

Q: Why only 50 percent?

A: The database will also consist of combined theories and analyses which yield accurate information. Due to some difficulties, this information will only be accessible by the end of 1998. One of the difficulties is the fact that it is not easy to obtain accurate data in Indonesia.

One of the reasons is people's attitude toward work. Many people see their work as a project, not as an opportunity to perform well. The result is that the quality of their product is makeshift. This has an influence over the database.