Ministry of Cooperatives Pushes Coconut Downstreaming, Transforming Coconut Husk Waste into Valuable Export Commodity
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – The Ministry of Cooperatives (Kemenkop) is taking strategic steps to strengthen North Halmahera’s position as the national coconut production centre. This initiative is realised through an event titled “Building Business Ecosystems and Expanding Cooperative Markets” held in Tobelo, North Halmahera.
Deputy for Cooperative Talent Development and Competitiveness (Kemenkop), Destry Anna Sari, officially opened the agenda that brings together policy stakeholders with local cooperative business actors (KDKMP).
“This activity aims to implement the 2025–2045 Coconut Downstreaming Roadmap launched by Bappenas, while aligning regional programmes with Asta Cita number five regarding increasing domestic value-added through industrialisation,” said Destry in a written statement in Jakarta on Sunday (19/4/2026).
Destry emphasised that Kemenkop will continue to oversee this partnership process until a truly independent business ecosystem is formed. “This oversight effort is crucial to ensure that downstreaming does not stop at the concept stage but provides real benefits in the form of improved welfare for cooperative members and communities around the production centre,” said Destry.
In addition, Kemenkop has launched a strategic collaboration programme with academics through an event titled “Young Generation Driving the Future of Cooperatives”. This agenda is combined with the briefing for students from the Community Service Programme (KKN) at Hein Namotemo University (UNHENA) taking place in Tobelo. Destry said this programme is designed to strengthen the role of Village/Subdistrict Red and White Cooperatives (KDKMP) through active involvement of the younger generation in enhancing cooperative literacy at the grassroots level.
A total of 150 UNHENA students are prepared to be deployed to various villages in North Halmahera Regency over the next two months. These students will be divided into 15 working groups, each assisting and implementing the KKN programme in 15 KDKMPs spread across the region.
“The main objective of this activity is to enhance the capacity of students to promote cooperative literacy among the community. We want to create strong synergy between the government, higher education, and village communities,” said Destry.