Agricom.id, PRINGGABAYA – Corn is one food commodity of agriculture and the second biggest commodity after paddy. The corn production in Indonesia is about 22 million tons in every single year. More than 70 percent of the productions are used to woof industries, namely poultry, such as, laying hens or broilers.

As the material for the woof industries, corn is also as the material for the food industries within the condition, it should have less than 20 part per million (ppb) of aflatoxin.

But the needs of corn for the woof industries are still imported. To answer the challenge, mobilized by Koperasi Dinamika Nusa Agribisnis (DNA) in Lombok Timur, Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) Province finally produced the low alfatoxin corn which depends on other countries for all these years.

The union is in cooperation with Agriculture Agency, NTB Province and the private to multiply the low alfatoxin corn production. Head of Agriculture and Plantation Agency, NTB Province, Husnul Fauzi said that Koperasi DNA in Village of Pringgabaya Utara, Sub district of Pringgabaya, could maintain the quality.

He thought that the corn has been produced since 2019 and could produce about 20 tons of low alfatoxin corn that fresh milk producer company advantaged.

“The low alfatoxin corn would be produced more up to 20.000 tons from 3.500 hectare areas,” he said in Mataram, Monday (3/8/2020), as in the official written statement to Agricom.id.

The young entrepreneur of PT. Datu Nusa Agribisnis, Dean Novel said that he started developing corn in about 200 hectares of the main plantation around Lombok, NTB. Then he developed the partnership with 7.200 corn farmers through Koperasi DNA, covering about 7.000 hectares of the plasma plantation.

In the first place, Dean focused the business to shelled corn for the woof for the storage. Finally he focused to produce corn, namely to import substitution, such as, low aflatoxin corn. Besides the main product, that is corn, he also got the waste, that is, the corncob. It was produced to be corncobs meal within the volume between 200 to 300 kilograms from each ton of wet shelled corn.

The corncob export potential is to South Korea. The corncob there has been made to be corncob meal and used as the material to plant mushroom.

“Corncobs may look simple but it is not easy to process, namely to fulfill the export specification and condition to South Korea. For all these years, China and Vietnam fulfilled the corncob meal there but from Indonesia, only PT. Datu Nusa Agribisnis (DNA) does,” he said.

Dean continued that his side exports 200 to 400 tons in every single month. “It is about 300 tons in average in every single month within about 135,00 USD per metric ton. Everything was supplied from Lombok. Until now the buyers in Korea are satisfied to ours,” he mentioned.

To increase the business capacity, he also does cooperate with the other stakeholders, such as, the banks which provided the low interest credit from kredit usaha rakyat, the seed factories, and the corn vitamins. “PT DNA is the off-taker,” he said.

About the low aflatoxin corn, Director of Food Plantation Marketing, Ministry of Agriculture, Gatut Sumbogodjati said that besides the water ingredient in the corn produced by the farmers, the aflatoxin which has minimally 20 ppb could add the selling price.

“It is needed to produce the healthy woof that the industries need,” he said. The way to increase the low aflatoxin corn in the domestic is also about to reduce the corn imports.

In the other place, General Director of Food Plantation, Ministry of Agriculture, Suwandi told that just like Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo told that the agriculture should keep running to support the qualified production to fulfill the needs in the domestic, reduce the imports, but increase the exports.

“I believed that Indonesia has the potential to produce low aflatoxin corn as the import substitution and produce corncobs meal to be exported,” he said.  (A2)