Parliament Warns Agrinas Director After Missing Meeting on Village Cooperatives
The Deputy Chairman of Commission VI of Indonesia’s Parliament Nurdin Halid warned the Director General of PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara (Agrinas), Joao Angelo De Sousa Mota, following his absence from a meeting with the Minister of Cooperatives to discuss outlets and the establishment of Red and White Village/Neighbourhood Cooperatives (KDKMMP) on Wednesday 11 March.
Due to Agrinas’s absence, the meeting was postponed and rescheduled. Nurdin requested that the Agrinas Director General attend the subsequent meeting.
“Therefore, the attendance of the Director General of PT Agrinas Pangan as a policy maker alongside the Minister of Cooperatives is very important. For this reason, we have decided to postpone this meeting,” Nurdin stated in a statement on Thursday 12 March.
According to Nurdin, the commission had conducted field visits to several regions to monitor the direct development of outlets and the establishment of village cooperatives. Based on these inspections, Parliament identified several matters requiring clarification from the Ministry of Cooperatives and PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara as programme implementer.
He stated that both parties must provide clarification ranging from management, administration, to the effectiveness of outlet development in villages.
“There are villages with populations of only around 150 or 200 people but an outlet is placed there. This is not possibly effective and productive. These kinds of matters need to be synchronised with the Ministry of Cooperatives,” he said.
Nurdin added that Commission VI has also received information that the management of outlet operations in the first two years will be carried out by PT Agrinas Pangan. According to him, this scheme needs to be reviewed again as it is considered not fully aligned with expectations.
He revealed various suggestions and even protests from the community beginning to emerge regarding the implementation of the programme. Nevertheless, Commission VI emphasised that it continues to support the government programme as long as its implementation aligns with the original objectives.
For this reason, Commission VI believes that the attendance of the leadership of PT Agrinas Pangan alongside the Minister of Cooperatives is very important in the follow-up meeting to provide explanations regarding policy and programme implementation.
“Commission VI strongly supports the President’s programme. However, in its implementation, it should not deviate from the President’s expectations and those of the village community,” he said.