Agriculture Minister Purchases Coconut Climbing Equipment from ITS, Farmers No Longer Need Monkeys
JAKARTA — Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has announced that the ministry will purchase coconut climbing equipment resulting from innovation by the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS).
Amran made the announcement following a meeting with dozens of university rectors at the Agriculture Ministry’s office in Jakarta. He stated that coconut is currently a commodity with high demand in the global market, and thus requires support from technological development.
“There is a climbing device, so we no longer use monkeys, but rather new equipment. We have immediately requested ten units for pilot testing,” Amran said when met at the Agriculture Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday (12 March 2026).
He noted that workers who pick coconuts face significant accident risks, and the innovation from ITS would be increased in volume. Reflecting on his own experience, Amran recalled: “I used to work climbing coconut trees. When you climb up, there is no wind initially. But once you are at the top, the wind arrives.”
“We pray up there, and all our prayers come out. Well, and previously we used monkeys. Now we use equipment,” he added.
The climbing equipment is expected to increase productivity by enabling farmers to pick coconuts from difficult-to-reach sides of trees. “Because if the high areas cannot be climbed, surely the machine can retrieve them, right?” Amran said.
In addition to the coconut climbing equipment from ITS, the Agriculture Ministry has also purchased four portable corn drying machines (dryers) from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). When Amran first learnt of the equipment some time earlier, he initially mistook it for an imported product. However, because it is produced by ITB, the ministry purchased the equipment immediately.
“This is portable; it can travel to farmers in the middle of fields, in the middle of corn plantations and so on,” Amran explained.
He promised to increase procurement volume of the technology in the following year if it proves to operate effectively.