Lampung Province Poised to Become National Cassava Development Hub

Lampung Governor Rahmat Mirzani Djausal launched the National Cassava Center at the University of Lampung on Friday, 24 July 2026. The launch is part of efforts to make Lampung the epicentre of Indonesian cassava development.

The National Cassava Center is a national collaboration hub designed to strengthen research, raise productivity, promote downstream processing and accelerate the welfare of cassava farmers. The National Cassava Center is not merely the inauguration of a research institution, but the starting point of building a cassava ecosystem that integrates science, technology, investment, industry and farmers in one mutually reinforcing value chain.

“This is not simply the inauguration of a location or research institution. It is the starting point of building an ecosystem where science, technology, investment, industry and farmers’ welfare are brought together in one place,” he said.

Governor Mirza said Lampung has a very strong foundation to lead national cassava development. Around 70 per cent of Indonesia’s cassava production comes from Lampung, providing a livelihood for hundreds of thousands of farming families across the region.

However, he said, for decades cassava sector development has proceeded without an integrated ecosystem, with industry and farmers operating separately, while land productivity has lagged behind competitor countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, which developed research, technology and government support for the tapioca industry earlier.

Moreover, nearly 500,000 cassava farmers in Lampung have faced sharp price fluctuations for years. The situation triggered prolonged demonstrations when cassava prices fell to around Rp 600–Rp 700 per kilogram.

The Lampung Provincial Government then took on the role of mediator, bringing together farmers, industry and the central government. The effort produced an agreement that led to import control policies, enabling industry to raise the prices paid to farmers.

“Today, the cassava price has reached around Rp 2,200 per kilogram. This shows that when farmers, industry and government are united, the benefits are immediately felt by the community,” he said.

However, Governor Mirza continued, the price improvement is not the end goal. The next challenge is to raise productivity so that Lampung cassava can outcompete the world’s major producer countries.

To that end, the government initiated the establishment of the National Cassava Center together with the University of Lampung as a national innovation centre focusing on developing superior varieties, agricultural mechanisation, cultivation technology and cassava-based downstream products.

The initiative received direct support from Minister of National Development Planning/Head of Bappenas Rachmat Pambudy, who urged Lampung to build not merely a regional research centre but a national-level cassava development centre through multi-party collaboration. “We must be number one in the world. We have the farmers, the land, the industry, and now we are building the research. It is time to raise productivity,” he said.

Governor Mirza hopes the transformation of the cassava sector will no longer stop at increasing production alone, but will grow into a foundation for strengthening the bioeconomy-based industry, national competitiveness and sustainable improvements in farmers’ welfare.

Meanwhile, Minister of National Development Planning (PPN)/Head of Bappenas Rachmat Pambudy said the launch of the National Cassava Center is an important milestone in developing the national cassava commodity. Indonesia, he said, has waited more than four decades for a cassava development centre capable of connecting research, industry, government and farmers within a single ecosystem.

Since the 1980s, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called cassava a “miracle tree”, and that potential is only now truly finding its momentum through the collaboration built in Lampung.

“Why am I so grateful today that the National Cassava Center exists? Because when I entered IPB in 1979, the FAO published a small book calling cassava a miracle tree. But the miracle did not appear after 45 years of waiting, and it seems the people bringing about the cassava miracle are those present in this room,” he said.

Rachmat assessed that Lampung’s success lies not only in its status as Indonesia’s largest cassava production centre, but also in its ability to build collaboration between government, universities, businesses and farmers.

According to him, that solidarity is the key foundation for raising productivity as well as farmers’ welfare. “We must be united, we must work together. Friendship between academia, bureaucracy and the business world is often only spoken of, but in Lampung it has been put into practice. That is why the cassava is good,” he said.

The National Cassava Center, he added, must not stop at being a mere research centre, but must become an innovation centre capable of delivering real solutions for farmers through improved productivity, development of superior varieties, application of Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), and strengthening of cassava-based downstream industries.

Rachmat also encouraged the National Cassava Center to develop into an International Cassava Center. With strong research support, international networks and sustained collaboration, he said, Lampung has a great opportunity to become the world’s cassava development hub.

“Let us make the National Cassava Center an International Cassava Center, still based at the University of Lampung. If that can happen, sooner or later Lampung will become the national cassava development centre, even an international cassava development centre,” he said.

University of Lampung Rector Lusmeilia Afriani said the National Cassava Center was built to address the challenges of low productivity, limited superior varieties and suboptimal cassava downstream processing in Indonesia.

According to her, the NCC will be developed on 150 hectares of land granted by the Lampung Provincial Government and has seven main focuses: research and innovation, germplasm conservation and seed production, smart farming, downstream processing, farmer empowerment, education area development, and technology transfer.

The University of Lampung has already launched several initial programmes, ranging from developing five superior cassava varieties, drafting Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), building demonstration plots, to expanding collaboration with the government, BRIN, IPB University, industry and various international institutions.

“Our priority is not only to produce research, but to deliver real solutions for farmers through the provision of superior seeds, technological assistance and downstream development, so that the added value of cassava grows ever larger,” she said.

With Lampung’s position as Indonesia’s largest cassava production centre, the research centre is expected to drive the development of a strategic national commodity while strengthening Lampung’s contribution to Indonesia’s food security and future industries.