UGM students develop a livestock-based social investment application namely Bantuternak. It is a platform which brings together investors and cattle breeders.
The startup built by Ray Rezky Ananda (Faculty of Animal Sciences), Hanifah Nisrina (Faculty of Veterinary Sciences), as well as Ayub and Fata (Faculty of Engineering) through Innovative Academy 3 UGM is developed to help the farmers obtain funds. This business development started from their concern on the condition of breeders in Indonesia which is declining.
“The number of breeders is declining, one of the factors is they are difficult to obtain funds to buy calves,” said CEO of Bantuternak, Ray Rezky, in front of the journalists on Monday at UGM main office.
Moreover, the condition is getting worse by the imbalance in the meat supply. It forces Indonesia to import beef from other countries to fulfill the national beef demands.
“Around 30% of beef are imported. The data in 2016 show Indonesia had to pay 1 trillion rupiah for importing beef,” he added.
Looking at this condition, he and his three colleagues initiated to develop a technology-based social business to help the breeders. Moreover, it is expected to be one of the solutions to reduce beef import in the future.
“Besides obtaining profits, investment in Bantuternak also helps increase welfare, because it involves and empowers the low economic level society,” said Ray Rezky.
Investment in Bantuternak works by giving a cattle when there is an investor joining the cooperation. The investment starts from IDR 10,000 with a short investment period which is 5 months.
“We will give a cattle which costs 12 million rupiahs, including feed and vaccine. Then, the breeder will raise it for 5 months to be resold,” he explained.
The result and profit from the sale will be divided between the investor, the breeder, and management team of Bantuternak. The profit sharing is 70% for the investor, 20% for the breeder, and 10% for the management team.
Hanifah further explained through Bantuternak application, the investors not only can see the profile and choose the breeder but also monitor the development of the cattle. There is a weekly report which presents the cattle condition, both its health status, weigh, feed, vaccine, as well as sale price estimation.
The application which was released in Play Store at the end of May 2017 has been downloaded by 300 people. Moreover, they cooperate with 30 investors and 15 breeders in Plemandu hamlet, Imogiri district, Bantul Regency.
“Today we have already helped 1 farmer. We hope our startup can be sustainable to encourage the national beef self-sufficiency and increase the economy of the breeder,” said Hanifah.