Indonesian Ministry to Build Coconut Processing Facility in Minahasa District

The Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry will build a production house in South Minahasa District, North Sulawesi Province, to process coconut products, according to Jakarta Antara news on September 23.  Later, the production house will be managed by cooperatives to accelerate the downstreaming of coconut products owned by farmers.  

The establishment of production house was a huge measure in efforts to downstream processed products since farmers could not possibly be able to process products independently, as the required technology was quite expensive, said Teten Masduki, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs. If successful, the government would likely build similar production houses at other locations in the country, each tailored to the region’s iconic produce, he added.

The minister said coconut production has yet to provide added value for small farmers first-hand.  He pointed out for instance the value addition by processing the whole nut which sells at Rp2 thousand and when later processed to virgin coconut oil could be sold at Rp12 thousand per item. Likewise, he emphasized the importance of utilizing other parts of the coconut for added value such as coconut husk when processed into coir and coir fiber and coco peat, as well as coconut shells for charcoal briquettes.