Agribusiness falls short of expectations: Expert

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.