The agricultural sector has great business potential. However, this sector, including the food sector in Indonesia, is underdeveloped and farmers remain poor. Therefore, collaboration between stakeholders is crucial.
It was conveyed by the Dean of SBM-ITB, Prof. Dr. Ir. Utomo Sarjono Putro, M.Eng in a workshop entitled “Business Opportunity in Developing Food Innovation,” via zoom meeting. This workshop was held by the Business Strategy and Marketing Expertise Group (KK BSM) of SBM ITB together with the School of Technology and Life Sciences (SITH) ITB, School of Pharmacy (SF) ITB, Faculty of Food Technology Universitas Padjadjaran (Unpad) and Universitas Pasundan (Unpas).
The workshop was attended by speakers, such as Dr. apt. Elfahmi S.Si., M.Si from the School of Pharmacy ITB, Dr. Rijanti Rahayu from the School of Life Science and Technology (SITH) ITB, Dr. Fitry Filianty from Food Technology Unpad, Dr. Ir. Asep Dedy, M.Si from Food Technology, Pasundan University Unpas, and Dr. Ir Mustika Sufiati Purwanegara, M.Sc from SBM ITB.
Utomo said that the agricultural sector is paramount for Indonesia as an agricultural country. In addition, the agricultural sector also has business potential.
“Collaboration is a good step in developing the food sector,” said Utomo.
The importance of collaboration in the development of the food sector in Indonesia is also supported by the Chairman of the Indonesian Cooperative Council for the West Java Region, Dr. Drs. Mustofa Djamaludin, M.Si. Mustofa believed that collaboration is important between various stakeholders, such as academics and the government, in providing added value in the food sector to achieve food independence.
“We must unite for food self-sufficiency by providing the added value,” said Mustofa.
In line with the views of Mostofa, a lecturer and researcher of SBM ITB, Dr. Ir Mustika Sufiati Purwanegara, M.Sc, said that the added value would not be achieved if the farmers and stakeholders work separately, so collaboration is a must.
Therefore, SBM ITB then launched the ecobiz.id platform, a community-based collaboration platform to share knowledge in agriculture. Through this platform, farmers can get knowledge related to agriculture directly from academics and professionals.
Mustika explained that ecobiz.id has several impacts on farmers and academics, such as making it easier to share knowledge and to find potential partners, as well as easy communication and sharing of business knowledge.
In addition to collaboration between farmers and academics, tecobiz.id can also be a platform to collaborate with financial institutions that will enable farmers to get funding. Ecobiz.id will also soon collaborate with the BRI Institute and ventures.
Through collaboration, it is hoped that it can increase farmers’ productivity in developing the food sector in Indonesia to achieve national food independence.