Zulhas Confirms 40,000 'Red and White' Village Cooperatives to Begin Operations in October 2026 as Community Service Hubs
Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan has confirmed that 40,000 Koperasi Desa Merah Putih (Red and White Village Cooperatives) are targeted to begin operating in October 2026. The government aims to complete the construction of all these cooperatives by September before they officially provide services to drive the village economy across Indonesia.
The statement was made by Zulkifli Hasan, commonly known as Zulhas, after attending the Inauguration and Coordination Meeting of the All-Indonesia Village Government Association (Apdesi) for South Sulawesi at the General TNI M Yusuf Hall in Makassar on Saturday, 4 July 2026.
According to Zulhas, the government is currently prioritising the completion of the 40,000 KDMP units so they can operate according to the set target. “Now our focus is to finish them. I have held meetings with the agency and all relevant ministries, the focus this year is for 40,000. It could even reach more than 36,000. But we will likely reserve up to Rp40,000 this year,” said Zulhas.
Zulhas explained that the construction of the KDMP is prioritised for completion by September 2026. Consequently, the cooperatives can start operating in October to serve the needs of communities at the village level. He stated that the government’s current focus is to ensure the cooperatives built can truly run optimally before an evaluation is conducted for further development. “The focus is to get them running, to make them good, then next year we will see how the progress goes,” he said.
This target is an adjustment from the government’s initial plan, which previously aimed to build up to 80,000 Koperasi Desa Merah Putih across Indonesia.
On the same occasion, Zulhas also explained that the KDMP will become a centre for various government services at the village level. In the future, various government assistance programmes will be centralised through these cooperatives so that distribution is more integrated and easily accessible to the public. Several services planned to be available at the KDMP include the distribution of Family Hope Programme (PKH) social assistance, distribution of agricultural tools and machinery, sales of subsidised fertiliser, sales of subsidised gas, electricity bill payment services, telephone bill payment services, and the distribution of various public necessities from the government. “Later, PKH, agricultural machinery assistance, and all government necessities will be dropped off at the village cooperative. From the cooperative, they will be distributed to the community. You can also pay electricity and telephone bills at the village cooperative. Subsidised fertiliser and gas will also be sold at the village cooperative,” said Zulhas.