Interest of Sugarcane Planting Farmers Increases, Sugarcane Production in Indonesia Rises

Rejoso Manis Indo, 01 March 2023 | Penulis : Dinar
Interest of Sugarcane Planting Farmers Increases, Sugarcane Production in Indonesia Rises
RMI ONFARM TEAM WITH SUGARCANE FARMERS RMI PARTNERS WHEN SHARING ABOUT SUGARCANE VARIETIES
RMI - Throughout 2022 yesterday, nationally the sugar cane fields expanded significantly. This increase reached 8.5% or an increase of 38 thousand hectares compared to 2021.

According to the Journal of Sugar - NSC Volume 111, this increase occurred on the island of Java and indicated an increase in the interest of farmers in planting sugarcane.

The report also states that nationally, during the milling period in 2022, more than 488 thousand hectares of sugar cane can be harvested. Privately owned sugar cane lands are superior to state owned lands. Privately owned sugarcane land reaches 255,307.7 hectares, while BUMN land is 233,674.6 hectares.

Until December 2022 yesterday, the number of national milled sugar cane showed a significant increase compared to the previous year. Citing data from the Indonesian Sugar Council and the Directorate General of Plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2022 milled sugarcane reached more than 36.4 million tons and this number increased by 4.2 million tons compared to 2021.

In this case, there are 2 factors that cause an increase in the amount of milled sugarcane, namely an increase in land area and an increase in sugarcane productivity per hectare. Nationally, privately owned land will indeed grow 5.99% in 2022 compared to the previous year. The addition of this area is mainly supported by the growing development of new sugar producers outside Java.

Unification of New Sugar Mills

In 2022 an association that brings together a number of new sugar producers in Indonesia has been formed. The association, which was established on June 9 2022, is called the Association of Indonesian Sugar Producers or Gapgindo. Currently, Gapgindo members consist of 4 sugar producers in Indonesia, namely PT Rejoso Manis Indo (RMI) in Blitar, PT Muria Sumba Manis in Sumba, PT Kebun Mas in Lamongan, and PT Pratama Nusantara Sakti in Ogan Komering Ilir.

General Chairperson of Gapgindo, Gratitude Iwantoro, said that the sugar producers who are members of Gapgindo are resource-based. And uniquely, most of the sugar factories that are members of Gapgindo are built in remote areas. Even though they are located in remote areas, these sugar mills are trying to innovate modern technology both in the sugar cane fields and outside the fields. Gratitude also said that this association was very open to other sugar factories in Indonesia.

"Gapgindo is open to other sugar factories," said Ketum Gapgindo, Gratitude Iwantoro.

According to him, Gapgindo can become a strategic partner for the Government to support the program to meet the national demand for sugar from domestic products.