Sjarifudin pledges to improve agribusiness

JAKARTA (JP): The government is promoting the development of the country's agribusiness by asking banks to improve financial supports and by establishing a board for agricultural standards, Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said here yesterday.

"We are preparing a meeting with Bank Indonesia, the central bank, to discuss ways to encourage both state-owned and private banks to provide more financial support for agribusiness," he told a two-day symposium on the management of agribusiness at the President Hotel here.

He said that the Agribusiness Agency, chaired by Dudung Abdul Adjid, is studying a plan for credit extension to agribusinesses in a way similar to that taken by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

The Agribusiness Agency was established recently to assist the Minister of Agriculture in formulating and implementing new agricultural policies to meet challenges brought about by the changing global environment.

Sjarifudin said that business people and bank executives should hold meetings to identify problems impeding the development of agribusiness. "Agribusiness companies frequently find it difficult to obtain loans because of their own shortcomings," he said.

He suggested that agribusiness firms must improve the professionalism of their management and that banks should increase the quality of their loans by offering better consultation services.

Standard

Sjarifudin also said yesterday that he had asked the Agriculture Agency to study the establishment of a standardization council for agricultural certification.

"We have the National Standardization Council in the industrial business which issues certificates on quality standards for industrial products. But there is no such organization in the agricultural business,," he said.

The symposium yesterday featured several speakers, including Dudung, Mooryati Sudibyo of PT Mustika Ratu, Soepanto of PT Usaha Mina, a state-run fishery company, and agricultural expert Chrisman Silitonga.

Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo is scheduled today to close the meeting. (icn)