UNAND develops sustainable food self-sufficiency research
Padang — Andalas University (UNAND) in West Sumatra, together with the Agriculture Ministry, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), is developing research on sustainable food self-sufficiency and agricultural commodity value-chain development.
“Agricultural food production cannot advance without innovation. There are many excellent studies at universities, but if they are not translated into policy and integrated into industry, they simply remain on paper,” said Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman in a written statement received in Padang on Thursday.
The agreement between universities, ministries, and relevant institutions represents a strategic step to strengthen research institutions in generating innovations that can be directly applied in the agricultural sector, whilst promoting the strengthening of industries based on national food commodities.
According to the minister, synergy between research and policy can produce significant impacts on national agricultural development. For example, various strategic agricultural policies born from ideas and innovations have been translated by the government into regulations and programmes.
“When innovation enters government and is translated into policy, the impact can be very significant for society. This is what we want to encourage together through this collaboration,” he said.
Meanwhile, Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Brian Yuliarto said the collaboration represents an important momentum for universities to contribute more tangibly in supporting the national food self-sufficiency programme.
“More than 90 per cent, even approaching 99 per cent, of research results in academia fail to enter the commercial market. Therefore, collaboration with government and industry is crucial so that innovation can truly be utilised,” he said.
The agreement between the ministries and institutions with universities covers coordination and synchronisation of research and innovation programmes on various strategic commodities including rice, maize, soya beans, wheat, sorghum, garlic, palm oil, coconut, coffee, cocoa, gambier, pepper, nutmeg, poultry, and agricultural machinery, fertiliser, post-harvest processing, and other commodities supporting sustainable food self-sufficiency and agricultural commodity value-chain development.
UNAND has been specifically mandated to focus on gambier commodity and its value-chain development efforts. UNAND has already successfully conducted gambier research value-chain development, producing electoral ink.