Deputy Minister: 'Red and White' Cooperatives to Become Distribution Channel for MSME Products
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Farida Farichah, is encouraging the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperatives (KDKMP) to become a distribution channel for micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) products. This move aims to enable these businesses to reach wider markets rather than relying solely on sales in their local areas.
Farida stated that KDKMP is not only established as a service facility for village communities but also as a centre for the consolidation and marketing of regional flagship products.
“We want these products to be consolidated and distributed across the cooperative network in NTB, and even nationally,” she said during a visit to the Sasak Maiq MSME in West Lombok Regency, NTOG, on Saturday (27/6), as quoted from an official statement in Jakarta on Sunday.
According to Farida, the presence of the KDKMP network in various regions is expected to shorten the marketing chain for MSME products while simultaneously opening access to broader markets.
In addition to serving as a distribution route for local products, KDKMP also functions as a provider of essential commodities for village communities, such as rice, cooking oil, and fertiliser, at more affordable prices by cutting long distribution chains.
Farida added that MSME players who join as cooperative members can also utilise access to financing through the Revolving Fund Management Agency (LPDB) with interest rates of approximately 6 per cent per annum.
According to her, this financing can be used to increase production capacity or invest in business equipment, ensuring MSMEs are better prepared to meet market demand.
“The function is that when you join the cooperative, you can access low-interest financing to increase production or purchase new tools. There is also a space for aggregation to exchange market information,” she said.
Amid global economic uncertainty and fluctuations in imported commodity prices, Farida also urged MSME players to maximise the use of local raw materials to strengthen business resilience.
She noted that MSMEs are a relatively resilient sector in the face of economic volatility because they are closer to local resources compared to industries that depend on imported raw materials.
Farida added that the government continues to encourage regional MSME products to penetrate export markets through collaboration with various parties, including Smesco Indonesia and the Ministry of Trade.
The Deputy Minister of Cooperatives also encouraged MSMEs in Lombok to begin looking towards international markets. She cited the success of cooperatives in other regions that have exported regional culinary products to Malaysia and Singapore.
“We at the Ministry of Cooperatives will communicate with relevant parties, such as Smesco and the Ministry of Trade, to ensure our MSMEs are not just local champions, but can also penetrate the international market,” she said.