WOMEN play an increasingly important role in the agricultural and food ecosystem. This can be seen from the growing contribution of women in the food industry supply chain stages such as cultivation and distribution (MSME sector).
However, the existence of women in the agricultural and food sectors is not without challenges, so strategic steps are needed to maintain and increase women’s access to the agricultural sector, especially in rural areas.
ID Food’s Director of Supply Chain Management and Information Technology, Bernadetta Raras, explained that one of the efforts to increase women’s access in the agricultural and food sectors is through digitalization. So that women become more aware of digital developments and this has an impact on making it easier to run a business online.
“Based on 2021 data from the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information, 80% of women-owned MSMEs in Indonesia now use digital platforms to sell their products and services. “The survey also found that these businesses experienced an average increase in sales of 20% since they used digital technology,” explained Raras when he was a speaker at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Workshop on Promoting Women Economic Empowerment Across Agri-Food Chain in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday (16/4).
In order to increase digital access, ID Food has developed a number of applications that can open up access for women to carry out entrepreneurial activities online, such as the development of the Digital Touch Point channel market.idfood.co.id, Digital Auction “Dilan”, e-commerce Warung Pangan , optimization of the “PaDiUMKM” market place which is carried out together with the Ministry of BUMN, and the creation of an online store channel in e-commerce to market agricultural and food products.
“This step allows ID Food to establish partnerships with agricultural business actors and female MSMEs. ID Food can also take off the products produced by farmers and then process them and market them to national and international market segments. “So we are opening up as many opportunities as possible, especially for female business actors, to collaborate,” he explained.
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Dalam gelaran APEC Workshop on Promoting Women Economic Empowermen Across Agri-Food Chain di Hanoi, ID Food tampil dalam sesi E-commerce in Promotion of Women Economic Empowerment in Agri-food Chain.
On this occasion, ID Food contributed to identifying opportunities, specific challenges and potential for collaboration in the adoption of e-commerce for women in the agricultural food chain in the Asia Pacific region, especially in its implementation in Indonesia. This APEC Workshop was attended by delegates from countries in the Asia Pacific region such as the Philippines, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to Raras, the large role of women in the agricultural and food sector is in line with the growth of female farmers and MSMEs in Indonesia. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2020, Indonesia has 30% female farmers out of a total of 27.5 million farmers. This number has increased from 2019 which was 24% of the total 24 million farmers.
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Meanwhile, in the downstream sector, according to 2022 BPS data, Indonesia has a percentage of female entrepreneurs of 53% or higher than male entrepreneurs at 47%. This number is above other countries in Asia Pacific, such as the Philippines at 52.1%, Vietnam 49.2%, and Thailand 37.9%. Meanwhile, according to 2022 Asia Development Bank data, 50% of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) owned by women in Indonesia have increased in the last five years.
Raras said, although the contribution of women in the agricultural and food sectors continues to grow, this is not without challenges. Currently, women in various countries face almost uniform challenges, namely related to open access to banking/capital, land ownership, financial and digital literacy, and market access.
“Therefore, support from all food stakeholders for women’s empowerment in the food sector needs to continue to be increased, considering that women are one of the pillars of agricultural development and household welfare, especially in rural areas,” he said.
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To answer these challenges, Raras emphasized the need to implement concrete strategic initiatives, including through an integrated agricultural close loop program from upstream to downstream. “This scheme must be run collaboratively across sectors, so that it can overcome various obstacles ranging from capital, cultivation assistance, technology application, insurance, to logistics and marketing,” he explained.
He gave an example, such a model has been running in Indonesia through the Makmur program initiated by the Ministry of BUMN together with a number of BUMNs in the food, banking, insurance, plantation and logistics or trade sectors. “One of the things we are implementing is to increase women’s access in the agricultural and food sectors, namely through the Makmur program where ID Food acts as chairman. “This program has proven effective in increasing the number of planting areas, farmer participation, and food commodity production,” he explained.
The Makmur Program is an agricultural corporatization program which includes funding activities, cultivation, use of technology, off-take of harvest results, and insurance. This program has been running since 2021 until now. Until 2023, Makmur will contribute to producing a planting area of 692 thousand ha with a realized harvest of 284 thousand ha and the participation of 322 thousand farmer partners. This amount includes 5 commodities being developed, namely rice, sugar cane, corn, palm oil and coffee. This achievement exceeded the set planting area target of 557 thousand ha.
The increase in the realization of Makmur in the last 3 years shows that this food integration program has had a positive impact, especially for partner farmers. This can be seen from the increasing participation of farmer partners, in 2021 the number of partners was recorded at 42 thousand farmers, in 2022 it rose to 131 thousand farmers, and in 2023 farmers joining this program have reached 151 thousand farmers.
“There is an increase in partnership participation every year. From 2021 to 2022 it will increase by 211% and from 2022 to 2023 it will increase once more by 15%. “This indicates that access is increasingly open for farmers and food business actors and other supporting sectors,” concluded Raras. (RO/Z-6)
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