Turning IPB into 'window of modern farming'

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.