Research institute targets small businesses

Research institute targets small businesses

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Good news for small farmers and prospective entrepreneurs. The
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has opened a unit to help
with research development to add value to agricultural products.

The Technical Service Unit (UPT) of the Chemical Technology
and Process Development Agency (BPPTK) at Gading village, Playen,
Gunungkidul, was set up in 2002 with the aim of becoming a
leading working unit in implementing the results of development
and research activities in the food, animal feed and chemical
industry.

The UPT BPPTK was a consequence of the reorganization in LIPI
and previously encompassed three separate units in Bandung (West
Java), Lampung, and Yogyakarta under the control of the
institute's UPT of Chemical Processed Material Development Agency
(BBOK).

Occupying an office of some 28,000 square meters on a 3.5-
hectare plot of land, the unit has helped local farmers in
increasing production and marketing.

"One of our main tasks is indeed helping small and medium
enterprises produce innovative, marketable products, thus helping
to improve the people's welfare," Head of the UPT BPPTK Putut
Irwan Pudjiono told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

A group of salak pondoh farmers in the sub-district of Turi,
Sleman, for example, was assisted in producing canned salak
pondoh, or snake fruit, for export. The farmers earlier
complained that their income had dropped as a result of the
declining price of the fruit.

Another group of rebung (bamboo shoot) farmers in a Central
Java region, received support in the production of canned bamboo
shoots, in order to increase the value of the commodity.

The unit is equipped with adequate human resources and modern
facilities including a laboratory and a processing room with a
canning line, tempeh maker, drying appliance, flour mills, and
other supporting facilities such as clean water processor and
waste disposal facility.

The laboratory, measuring 20 square meters, is designed for
conducting biological, chemical, and physical tests or analysis.

"We welcome anyone in need of our help," said Putut, adding
that the unit usually offers free research to its clients and
experiment needed for the goods or commodity in question, until
they are ready for market production.

"We only charge them for the processing once a particular
product is considered ready to be launched in the market. For
canning, for example, we require them to pay Rp 4,000 (45 U.S.
cents) per can excluding the label," Putut said.

The unit also does its own research on processed food and
introduces the samples and products to interested businesspeople.
The products include canned tempeh curry, tempeh bacem (sweet
fried tempeh), baby corn, pineapple, fruit cocktail, quail eggs,
bamboo shoots, snake fruit, and kolang-kaling (sugar palm
fruits).

The unit's maximum production capacity is 10,000 cans daily.

"Our canned tempeh products have even been marketed in the
U.K., and served on the main menu at a hospital there," said
Putut but declined to name the hospital or its location.

The unit also produce processed food made of mushroom.

"Although it is the result of a relatively new research
program, we have so far succeeded in making samples of bottled
and canned mushrooms. We have even succeeded in further producing
processed mushroom including mushroom sausage, nugget, abon jamur
(shredded, dried mushroom), and bakso jamur (mushroom sausage),"
he said.

Also noteworthy is the unit's joint effort with some non-
government organizations and local governments in developing a
tempeh-based flour used as a supplementary ingredient to produce
nutritious food for infants and toddlers under five years of age
and elementary school students.

"People have widely recognized it as BMC (bahan makanan
campuran) formulated flour," Putut said.

He added that UPT BPPTK was also conducting research and
development activities on animal feed and organic products. The
unit has developed a special dried grass to feed the cattle
during the dry season.

It has also initiated the "integrated cow and chicken farming
system". In it, cow manure is used as a medium to grow worms to
feed chickens. The cow manure is also used as the raw material
for producing biogas as an alternative energy source.

The organic development program aims to produce competitive
and added value products, technology and service. The current
organic products on research include mengkudu (Java nony) fruit,
pare (bittergourd), akar wangi (fragrant roots of a spice tree),
betel leaves, and empon-emponan (herbal plants).

Examples of the products of this category include bengkoang
(tuber) flour, mengkudu flour, turmeric flour, and ginger flour.
Others include sliced, dried agricultural commodities and
distilled products such as atsiri oil, ginger oil, clove oil, and
furfural (an organic chemical agent used in natural oil drilling
activities).

"The research and production are made possible through
cooperation with the private sector. Thank God, the production
keeps increasing although it is as a whole still produced in a
limited volume," Putut said, adding that the unit's activities
are mainly funded by the state budget. This year alone, the
government has allocated Rp 710 million for research and
development.

UPT BPPTK currently has 44 employees including research staff,
technicians and analysts, administrative staff and production
executives.