State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Deputy Minister I Pahala N. Mansury pressed for a major rehaul of SOEs in order to achieve food and national energy security to end Indonesia’s reliance on imported products.

Mansury highlighted President Joko Widodo’s expectations that SOEs should respond to the challenges of the global food and energy crisis that would affect Indonesia. He delivered the statement at the product launch event for the IP-FRI research in Jakarta, Wednesday.

“So high, the expectations are echoed by the president. However, what is that it certainly cannot be done with business as usual (behaviour),” Mansury pointed out.

He cited the example of state plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) that produced sugarcane up to 70 tons per hectare and increased to 100 tons per hectare and this he believed could not be done in the usual ways followed currently.

He called on the SOEs to work harder as well as innovate and transform in order to boost production capacity. Research in the agroindustry sector played an important role in improving the quality and quantity of agricultural products.

He emphasized that the research being conducted was one that was purely business-oriented while adding that it could be commercialized.

“Of course, you have to do research that can be commercialized. Research that has value and impact in the future,” he affirmed.

PTPN III Plantation Holding, along with Perum Perhutani, formed the Indonesia Plantation & Forestry Research Institute (IP-FRI) in July 2021, with the objective of conducting research and innovation related to plantation and forestry in a bid to increase the company’s competitiveness.

President Director of PTPN III M. Abdul Ghani said his administration will issue research results — of five sugarcane varieties — that could boost the production capacity.

“By the end of this year, we expect that five varieties of sugarcane will be released. We have also proposed it to the agriculture minister,” he noted.

Source: Antara News