West Sumatra Gambir Cooperative and ID FOOD Forge Export Partnership

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Syariah Gambir Producer Cooperative Anam Koto Mandiri from West Sumatra has entered into a partnership with state-owned food holding company PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (Persero), or ID FOOD, to explore exporting gambir products to international markets. The cooperation was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Ministry of Cooperatives office in Jakarta on Tuesday. This collaboration targets markets in India and Pakistan, with an estimated value of USD 732,831 (approximately IDR 11.72 billion) and a target shipment of 20 tonnes of gambir per month. Deputy for Talent and Competitiveness Development at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Destry Anna Sari, emphasised that the government is pushing for this cooperation to move beyond the agreement stage and immediately enter business implementation. “I hope that within three months, a business transaction contract will occur and the goods will be shipped in a downstream form,” Destry said in a ministry press release. She also highlighted the main challenges in developing cooperative exports, particularly regarding supply consistency and product quality when demand increases. According to her, the government will involve various parties to ensure international quality standards can be met, including food safety standards such as HACCP. Furthermore, the government is also encouraging the strengthening of foreign trade regulations so that foreign buyers cannot purchase raw materials directly from the village level, which is considered to potentially affect price stability at the farmer level. ID FOOD Commercial Director Dwi Sutoro stated that his party is committed to strengthening the export ecosystem for regional superior commodities through the company’s distribution and trade networks. He explained there are three main pillars in building a sustainable export ecosystem: supply sustainability, quality consistency, and price competitiveness in the global market. “Going forward, ID FOOD will optimise its branch offices throughout Indonesia to act as sourcing development in identifying regional superior products ready to be brought to the international market,” Dwi said. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Syariah Gambir Producer Cooperative Anam Koto Mandiri, Eriyanto, said this cooperation is a strategic step to provide market and price certainty for gambir farmers in West Sumatra. The cooperative, established in 2021, currently has around 190 gambir farmers and eight farmer groups with a total land area of 450 hectares. From this consolidation, the cooperative has a production capacity of approximately 30 to 50 tonnes of gambir per month. “This MoU is an important step to strengthen gambir downstream processing and increase the product’s competitiveness in the export market,” he said. He added that his cooperative is committed to maintaining supply continuity and improving business governance to be more professional and transparent in order to support sustainable exports. The gambir commodity has various benefits and diversified processed products, ranging from a mixture ingredient in the food and beverage industry, raw material for the health and pharmaceutical industry, to raw material for the cosmetics industry such as anti-aging and antioxidant products. The government notes that Indonesia supplies around 80 percent of the world’s gambir commodity. Besides India and Pakistan, Indonesia’s gambir export markets also include Japan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.