UGM Faculty of Agriculture (Agriculture UGM) and PT Astra International Tbk signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) in the tri-dharma of higher education field on Friday, Jul. 19, 2024, at Menara Astra, Jakarta.
The Dean of Agriculture UGM, Dr. Jaka Widada, and the Chief of Corporate Affairs at PT Astra International Tbk, Riza Deliansyah, signed the MoA.
The scope of this collaboration involves an agreement to develop fisheries and marine product clusters under the Desa Sejahtera Astra (Astra Prosperous Village Program/DSA).
The MoA signing ceremony occurred during the 2024 National Working Meeting of DSA.
DSA is PT Astra International Tbk’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, which was initiated to enhance the nation’s welfare. To date, 1,196 villages across 180 districts in Indonesia have joined the DSA program.
The program focuses on empowering entrepreneurship at the village level according to the village’s potential and leading products.
“The DSA program focuses on developing leading products through three clusters: agriculture and its processed products, fisheries, and marine, as well as tourism, crafts, and culture,” explained Riza Deliansyah before opening the DSA National Working Meeting.
Agriculture UGM’s involvement in the DSA Program is to mentor the fisheries and marine cluster.
As a mentor, the team is responsible for coordinating and facilitating the development of the DSA cluster to enhance competitiveness, productivity, and innovation.
“The upcoming agendas that will be the concern of our team as cluster mentors will relate to product improvement, product testing, licensing, certification & legality, business matching, database management, technological consultation and guidance, digitalization, and international expos,” said Dr. Widada.
He hopes that Agriculture UGM’s involvement in the DSA program, fully supported by PT Astra International Tbk, can become a stepping stone toward Golden Indonesia 2045 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The first day of the 2024 DSA National Working Meeting featured talks for each cluster.
On this occasion, the UGM Fisheries Department team, represented by Professor Suadi, who also acted as the activity’s head, delivered a presentation titled ‘Empowerment of Fisheries and Marine Resources for Strengthening Village Economies.’
Professor Suadi emphasized the importance of strengthening upstream-downstream systems in the fisheries business and community-based fisheries and marine empowerment strategies based on product and business development models.
“Indonesia’s fisheries have a significant comparative advantage with the available resources but are still weak in competitive advantage. One effort that must be made is to strengthen human resource capacity and marine and fisheries technology,” said Professor Suadi.
He added that integrating fisheries into village development should be encouraged to avoid sectoral development.
The growth of group-based enterprises such as fish processing and trading, fish and shrimp farming, sandland agriculture, livestock, and tourism in several coastal areas is a social capital for integrating fisheries into village development.
On the second day of the DSA National Working Meeting, the Fisheries Department team led discussions on product profiles and the challenges faced by various fisheries and marine cluster facilitators from several regions, such as Central Maluku Regency (Maluku), Blitar and Mojokerto (East Java), Mamuju (West Sulawesi), and West Manggarai and Maumere (East Nusa Tenggara).
Author: Agriculture UGM
Editor: Triya Andriyani
Post-editor: Lintang