PROBOSUTEDJO - BIOGRAPHY - CURRENT ACTIVITIES

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

Probosutedjo, at the ripe old age of 77, is still engaged in business and social activities. To him, the objective of business is not only to make profit, but also to improve the welfare and standard of living of the people of Indonesia. Through hard work and good fortune, he is also able to give back to the community through his many social endeavours. These social endeavours provide an avenue through which he is able help assist the development of this country according to his own ideals. For example, by building schools and universities he is able to directly raise the quality of education in this country.

The same can be said about Probosutedjo’s efforts to increase the production of rice in Indonesia. These efforts result from his dream to live in an Indonesia that is self sufficient in its own domestic rice production. Without exception, rice is the most important staple food in this country. It is this country’s most important yardstick by which the level of the impoverished is truly measured. If a family cannot afford to buy rice for their family, they are truly considered poor. Therefore, it has been the dream of many generations of patriots to live in an Indonesia that has an affordable and abundant supply of rice. For Probosutedjo, the achievement of this goal would be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

It can no longer be denied that Indonesia is experiencing food crisis. This means that there is not enough food produced for the hundreds of millions of people living in Indonesia to allow them to survive long-term. It has even been said that in the face of International conflict or economic embargo, Indonesia would only survive for 2-weeks because her food reserves would only last that long. Therefore, it cannot be overemphasized that the country’s primary objective should be to increase food production due to this current precarious situation.

In the example of International Conflict, the primary objectives of the enemy are to disrupt Energy Production (such as oil and coal, power generators), Communications and finally the Food Supply and Potable Water. Since Indonesia’s food supply is so precariously balanced, its disruption would be easily achieved. Military has demonstrated many times that a gun serves no useful purpose if the soldier holding it is too weak to fight.

For decades now Indonesia has enjoyed relatively peaceful existence. But, and in accordance with the wisdom of Allah the Almighty, we must never put our guard down and should always be alert to dangers. Who knows? The history of this world is plagued with conflict and it is often said that history is doomed to repeat itself. However, even during times of peace, adequate food reserves are essential to ensuring the continued existence of all Indonesians.

These facts have led Probosutedjo to design a program to increase Rice Field Productivity, which will increase the supply of rice while simultaneously improving the standard of living of its farmers.

Rice Field Productivity Program:

The structure of the program is very simple:

1. Each farmer must register him/herself to participate in the program.
2. A fixed fund amounting to 4,000,000,- (four million Rupiah) per hectare per growing season is provided to each registrant.
3. The Rice Farms will be harvested and production will be divided as follows:
1. - 5 tons per hectare of unprocessed rice will be kept by the farmer.
2. - The remainder of the unprocessed rice will be given to the Rice Farm Productivity Programs’ management.
4. The 5 tons per hectare of unprocessed rice kept by the farmer will be bought by the management of the program at market price.
5. The total amount of unprocessed rice produced can either be sold to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), or processed and sold as rice on the open market.

In this program the farmers are freed from bearing the total costs of planting their Rice Fields which amount to Rp. 4,000,000,- per hectare. With a current market price of Rp. 2,000,- (two thousand Rupiah) per kilogram of the unprocessed rice this translates to a farmer’s net income of Rp. 10,000,000,- (ten million Rupiah) per hectare.

There have been suggestions that if the farmers receive the fund to plant their fields, they will simply take the money and not plant anything. However, the farmers would lose the opportunity to obtain a larger income of Rp. 10,000,000,- per hectare per harvesting season, which is net of all production costs (because the costs have already been funded) and represents 2.25 times the amount of the fund received.

Using the numbers above it is easy to calculate that the program will reach a break-even point if participating farmers are able to produce 7 tons of unprocessed rice per hectare. If production yield exceeds 7 tons per hectare then the program will reap profits. These profits will then be invested back into the program. The resulting effect will be increased participation by farmers which will lead to increased national production of rice.

The success of the program relies heavily on the responsibility, accountability and awareness of everyone who is directly or indirectly involved in the implementation of the program. It would be a great pity if irresponsible individuals decided to take advantage of the facilities afforded by the program in order to profit in the short-term by sacrificing the long-term success of the program. By putting aside the long-term potential of the program the irresponsible individuals have ultimately compromised the wellbeing of their own descendants. The point is, it is of the utmost importance that we are all aware, for the sake of all our children and grandchildren, the significance of increased national production of food so that we can feed ourselves and defend our national integrity and independence.