“Impact Investing and Sustainable Agriculture-The Journey begins from Duke Capital” Part 1

“The Future of Sustainable Agriculture Development Summit” aspired to discuss the trend of agriculture development in the future, food security and the development of remote rural areas as well as the role of the National Federation of Rural Co-operative (Induk KUD). We hope with focusing on the connection enhancement in between the co-operative alliance, food manufacturers, suppliers and consumers in the future, we can create a win-win ecosystem for agro-based industry.

The Smart Agro-based industry is currently a fast-growing industry in the world, contributed by the tremendously rapid growth of world population. Research institutions predict that the world’s population will reach 10 billion by 2050 from the current 6 billion while the food demand shall increase by 70% for the same period. Meanwhile, by 2026, nearly 50% of the population shall live in urban areas. These factors shall lead to the rise of demand on high-value crops and agricultural products.

Hence, the smart agro-based industry will receive a thoroughly new and gigantic golden market development opportunity, in particularly for farmers and agro-based entrepreneurs in developing countries such as China, India and Indonesia as well as neighbouring countries surrounding Asia Pacific region. Indonesia is a country rich with abundance of natural resources. Currently, it still has 36.8 million hectares of undeveloped agricultural land. Should these lands be utilised properly, Indonesia will be able to produce sufficient food to meet the need of all countries in the region and will become the food basket of the world.

Nevertheless, it is still a major challenge to provide sufficient and affordable food to growing cities, as it requires huge investment fund in land and manpower, high technology and skills, comprehensive food distribution channels, warehouse, marketing tools, indeed, millions of farmers who are involved in production and supply of food.

Indisputably, private sector plays an extremely significant role in the development of smart agro-based industries in Indonesia. Through the integration of local, regional and global agricultural supply chains, the smallholders and agricultural business owners shall work closely and collectively to become a powerful pillar for Indonesia’s economy.

Therefore, the National Federation of Rural Co-operative (Induk KUD) that has 9,437 branches and more than 13 million members (nearly 60 million including members’ family members) in 34 provinces across Indonesia, endeavours to integrate all farmers and fishermen into the global food supply chain, in order to play a more important role in the national economy. To achieve this vision, the Induk KUD has collaborated with Duke Capital, in order to realize the modernisation of the Induk KUD to deal with the next wave of the global market growth.