Turning IPB into 'window of modern farming'
By Joko Sarwono
BOGOR (JP): The old campus has been undergoing a quiet physical transformation few people would probably notice.
The huge Dermaga Campus of the Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB) -- a 250-hectare area with shady trees, gardens, dens -- certainly looks much cleaner and better managed than it was a few months ago.
IPB's rector behind the change, Prof. R.H. Moehammad Aman Wirakartakusumah, said, "I want to turn the campus into a window of modern farming development."
The college can be proud of its achievements for developing new species, strains or seeds for, among others, salak pondoh (snake fruit), durian, bananas, herbal plants, food crops, sheep, snails, patin (freshwater fish), cacao and organic fertilizer.
What it needs to do is promote and display these achievements to the world, and this is where appearances count.
Aman, who lives on campus with his family, takes a one-hour walk around the campus every morning, not only as part of his keep-fit program, but also to inspect the gardens, dens and other facilities on campus.
"If I spot a neglected den belonging to the School of Animal Breeding or the School of Forestry, I'll call the dean and ask that something be done," he said.
Aman, who has devoted his entire working career to the agriculture sector, and mostly for his alma matter, which he now leads, was confirmed to the IPB top spot in November, after holding the job as caretaker since June. He replaced Soleh Solahuddin, currently the agriculture minister.
Born in Tasikmalaya, West Java, on July 30, 1947, Aman graduated from IPB in 1972. In 1975 he went to the University of Wisconsin Madison in the U.S. to study food science, majoring in chemical engineering, and obtained his doctorate in 1981.
His previous jobs at IPB include head of the Food Physics Laboratory, head of the Food Industry Laboratory, head of the Nutrition and Food Technology Section, dean of the School for Agriculture Technology and assistant rector for Academic Affairs.
Tennis buff
A tennis and music buff, he plays the guitar, Aman is married to Sylvia Rooniaty Djohar and the couple have four children: Daryl, 24, Ivan, 20, Kevin, 16, and Donovan, 11.
Aman gave an interview recently to The Jakarta Post, talking about his vision for the college and for the country's often neglected agriculture sector.
Q: How do you intend to improve the quality of your graduates?
A: We try to develop their competitive skills and entrepreneurial spirit. They can't acquire these by just sitting at their desks. That's why we have all these various facilities on campus. A graduate from the School of Animal Breeding should be able to run an animal-breeding business. A School of Technology graduate must know how to run a food-canning industry.
Q: You seem to be grooming them for the free market era...
A: Every IPB student from any field will graduate with three basic skills: a foreign language, management and information technology. IPB has already opened several language laboratories for English, Japanese, German, French and Arabic. In the old days, a foreign language was only taught in the first year. Now, it is taught at all levels. The same goes for management and infotech.
Q: Many IPB graduates end up working outside the agriculture sector. This seems to suggest that there is something wrong with your curriculum.
A: Our own data suggests that the number of IPB graduates who work outside the agriculture sector is less than 1,000, out of a total of 44,000 graduates. True, many of these became successful in their chosen fields, and this drew attention to their IPB background. But there's nothing wrong with the IPB curriculum.
Q: How do you see the current student movement in IPB?
A: We try to guide them into active programs that give direct benefits to society, such as programs to empower farmers in chicken breeding, in sheep breeding or working as agriculture extension workers.
Q: What about student protests?
A: I would not physically obstruct them. I would not stop them as long as they observe the rules and do not disrupt public order. We encourage them to consult and discuss the issue with us first. We encourage them to be mature, to calculate the risk and benefit of taking to the streets.
Q: Do you let your students take part in monitoring the elections? Some universities even give credit points to their students.
A: Points can be given by universities whose students are involved in political research. IPB is involved in agricultural research, it has no bearing on elections. But if IPB students wish to take part in monitoring the elections, we'll let them take a break from their classes.
Q: How do you see the agriculture sector developing in Indonesia?
A: Most people see agriculture as simply the production of food crops. If this is the perception, it is difficult to envisage agriculture playing a leading role in development.
Agriculture is an expansive subject covering food production, horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery, cash crops, forestry and maritime resources. During this economic crisis, the prices of agricultural products such as palm oil, cacao, shrimp and forestry products have boomed. If we had consistently developed the agriculture sector, it could have been the leading sector.
Q: What prevented this from happening? How do you propose to go about making it happen?
A: The agriculture sector is divided into different sectors, each coming under a separate government ministry. There never was any concerted effort. That's our weakness.
We need to revamp the entire sector. We need a strong policy in agriculture development. In order to get out of the crisis, we should develop an umbrella policy for the next five years, focusing on food production, agriculture and health. Other sectors should be developed to support this policy.
If we took this approach, we could become self-sufficient in food within two years and cut our dependence on imports. Just imagine, last year we spent US$3 billion or Rp 27 trillion to import 10 million tons of grains. That's a very heavy burden.
Our policy should not be aimed to meeting only domestic demand. We should also strive to grab a larger share of world markets for our forestry, maritime and plantation products.
We should also pay more attention to the health sector, considering that we are now dependent on imported raw material for medicines. It's now time to develop alternative medicines, using traditional technology and locally grown material. We could save a lot on foreign exchange.
Q: Is two years enough time to become self-sufficient in food?
A: Our agriculture sector has not reached its optimal point. It is still run on a high-input, low-output mode. Take, for example, the rice intensification program, which uses fertilizers extensively. That's high input. On the output side, between 15 percent and 20 percent of the harvest is lost in post-harvest processing. That's low output. We really need to improve productivity through the adoption of modern agricultural concepts. We need to convert to a low-input, high-output concept.
We must not stop at producing food crops. We need to produce animal feed and raw material for the manufacturing sector. We do this through research and development. Upstream, there will be industries in seeding, medicines, vaccines and antibiotics. Midstream, we will have packaging, paper, glass. Downstream, there will be manufacturing industries that can give added value to our products and create job opportunities.
That's what people mean with agriculture playing the leading role in economic development.
Q: How do you overcome the problem of coordination?
A: Certainly, various government agencies will be involved. There is nothing really wrong with the current institutional framework, with the allocation of work between the different government ministries and Cabinet ministers. But there seems to be a problem with implementing the concept. Each agency appears to be working for its own interest. They have developed a "sectoral ego". This makes coordination difficult.
I suggest that we make the Ministry of Agriculture the only agency to handle the entire agriculture sector. If people object to the term, we could call this agency the Ministry of Primary Industry.
Q: That means cutting down the number of government agencies...
A: Many people have asked about the ideal size of a Cabinet for it to be effective and efficient. Most big countries only have 17 ministers.
Q: How do you see the reports of undernourished and underfed children? Do you think the government is slow to respond?
A: We seem to have a problem in getting accurate information. We can only act or make decisions based on accurate information. The government has money and the stuff under the social safety net program. But they are not reaching the intended recipients. This is why I emphasize the need to develop a reliable information system. IPB has already developed such a concept.
Q: Can you explain briefly about the concept?
A: When you talk about a food information system, you are talking about three subsystems of information: consumption, distribution and production. For consumption, you need information about the consumers, the type of products demanded, how much and their geographical locations. For distribution, you need information about the condition of roads, the type of transportation available, the costs and the people/agencies involved. For production, you need information about the procurement of material and its manufacturing.
We also have drafted a geographical food information system. This allows us to monitor food production by regions. It can give us early warnings about whether a certain region is going to have a surplus or deficit in food production. This way, we can anticipate when a certain region is going to have a food shortage.