To reduce feed costs, which are the largest component of the farming process, farmers are now independently producing feed. This initiative has been pioneered by catfish farmers in Belitang District, East Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Regency, South Sumatra Province, since 2018.
According to H. Purwanto, Chairman of the Mina Mitra Mandiri Producer Cooperative (KPM3), his organization began producing feed independently in 2018 with a small machine with a capacity of 200 kg/hour. At that time, the factory was not yet managed by a cooperative but rather by a group, the Mitra Mandiri Fish Farmers Group. “Then, after it developed, it was converted into a cooperative on March 9, 2021,” Purwanto said some time ago.
Furthermore, with the designation of East Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Regency as a Patin Fish Farm Village through the Decree of the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KP), the cooperative received assistance in the form of a feed-making machine with a capacity of 1 ton/hour. “However, it’s a shared effort; the KKP provides the machine, and the cooperative builds the infrastructure and business capital,” he continued.
Along with the designation of East OKU as a patin village, Pasaman (West Sumatra) was also designated as a carp village; Gresik (East Java) as a milkfish village; and Pati (Central Java) as a tilapia village. Then, in Eastern Indonesia (NTB and NTT), it became a grouper and lobster village.
The feed factory was inaugurated by Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono at the 2023 Technical Working Meeting of the Directorate General of Aquaculture, Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, held at The Alana Yogyakarta Hotel. The inauguration of the Mandiri OKU Timur Fish Feed Factory was marked by the signing of an inscription by the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, accompanied by Deputy Regent Yudha and the Director General of Aquaculture at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
