Amran Purchases 10 Coconut Climbing Devices from ITS to Replace Monkeys

Jakarta — Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman is driving the adoption of technology to replace traditional methods, including the use of monkeys in harvesting processes. He has directly ordered the coconut climbing device developed by the technological university for field trials.

Amran stated that the device is an innovation from the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), designed to help farmers harvest coconuts more safely and efficiently.

“From ITS, there is a coconut climbing device, because coconut demand is currently high at the global level and our exports are rising. There is a climbing device, so we no longer use monkeys, but have a new device instead. We immediately requested 10 units for trial,” Amran said at a press conference at the Agriculture Ministry office in Jakarta on Thursday (12 March 2026).

He described the equipment purchase as part of the government’s efforts to utilise technological innovations from universities for farmers’ needs.

“We already have a Memorandum of Understanding and many new discoveries from universities. We buy them directly. So this is concrete action,” he said.

Amran stressed that the Agriculture Ministry wants to ensure that higher education research does not remain merely academic, but is directly applied in the field.

“It is not just in our imagination, but we buy directly according to Indonesian farmers’ needs,” he said.

When asked about the budget for procuring the device, Amran said the government has ordered several units for the initial phase.

“I am buying 10 first. The price is confidential. Still under negotiation,” he said.

According to him, using the coconut climbing device is important to reduce the risks that farmers currently face during manual harvesting. He even shared that he once worked climbing coconut trees himself.

“Yes, that is. It is risky climbing. I used to work… I climbed coconut trees. When we go up on a coconut tree, there may be no wind initially, but once you are up high there is wind. We pray up there, all our prayers come out. Then there was also use of monkeys. Now we use equipment,” Amran said.

He believes that using the device also has the potential to increase harvest productivity, especially for coconut trees that are difficult to reach.

“Of course productivity will be high. Because if (the position) is high and cannot be climbed, using a machine can surely take it, right? Yes. That will need calculation later,” he concluded.