Chinese, Malaysian Investors To Help Indonesian Farmers

Jakarta, July 22 (Antara) - Investors from China and Malaysia, grouped in the Amarak Group, have expressed readiness to help Indonesian farmers boost rice and soybean productivity. "We are ready to help Indonesian farmers by transferring funds and technology to optimize rice and soybean productivity in the country," Amarak Group Indonesia subsidiary PT Ratu Indah Mandiri Director Mohammad Helmy Bujang said here on Sunday night. He made the statement during the signing of a cooperation on the Optimization of Agricultural Cultivation for 50,000 to 1,000,000 Hectares Area in Indonesia. Helmy said Indonesian farmers should get knowledge and certificates to increase their agricultural productivity. Therefore his party would like to transfer agricultural-related knowledge to the Indonesian farmers in order that they could develop the derivative products of rice and soybean. "In this investment cooperation we will help Indonesian farmers develop derivative industry from rice and soybean products," Helmy said. Meanwhile, PT Tri Megah Mandiri President Director Made Suardika Dwipayana said the cooperation program was similar to the national farmers development by the state-owned enterprises (BUMN). "This cooperation program is exactly similar to the farmers` agricultural land development which has been conducted so far by the state-owned enterprises. But the difference is that we will also develop derivative product from soybean to produce oil and bread," Made said. According to him, the cooperation aimed to cultivate around 1,000,000 hectares of Indonesian farmers` land in an unlimited time, and in the preliminary stage it would cultivate 100,000 hectares of land this year. "Total investment in this cooperation is Rp5 billion in stage, but the provision of seeds and fertilizer will be obtained from the local products," Made said.