FGD’s (Focus Group Discussion) Census of National Cows
Potential local cattle of as many as 14.8 million heads can be developed to meet the need of the national beef industry and reduce the need for imported calves/cattle. This can be realized through the improvement of breeding and fattening programs with the application of cultivation technology suited to its agroecosystem.
Dean of Faculty of Animal Husbandry of IPB Dr. Luki Abdullah expressed the idea in the Focus Group Discussion: "Can Census of 2011 Answer the Need of the National Beef Meat for Consumption and Industry?", Friday (14/10) in the Campus Baranangsiang of IPB. The event was organized by the Directorate of Research and Strategic Studies of IPB in collaboration with the Monitoring Task Force of Beef Self-Sufficiency (PSDS) under Faculty of Animal Husbandry, and the Alumni Association of Faculty of Agriculture Technology (Fateta) IPB.
Elsewhere, Dr. Luki explained that the formation of the Task Force under the Faculty under his leadership is to safeguard the efforts toward the target of beef self-sufficiency in 2014. In addition, it is also an appreciation for the steps taken by governments in animal farming through the beef self-sufficiency program in 2014 because it is evaluated to have been able to empower local farmers.
Further, Dr. Luki said the beef self-sufficiency program that has been launched by the government needs to get attention and support of all parties, including the academics.
"The program needs our support for the common interest. It is expected to operate consistently and sustainably because there are a lot of benefits for local farmers," he explained.
Therefore, the Faculty of Animal Husbandry of IPB recommends that the government not only pay attention to the upstream factors of animal farms but also must develop the downstream farms. The development of downstream livestock sectors is considered to be a solution to build the Indonesian livestock sub-sectors in the long term.
Previously, Executive Director Association of Meat Producers and Feedlot Indonesia (APFINDO), Joni Liano said that to meet the need of meat for consumption and industries related to the meat self-sufficiency program in 2014, there will be about 1.2 million cows that have to be slaughtered. This is so because based on the census data received, of about t 14.8 million beef cattle available, only 1.4 million male cattle are ready to cut. The rest are females and young cattle.
"If our cattle production and reproduction work well, we could actually achieve self-sufficiency. The problem is at present the time interval between the births of our cows is still far apart, and the birth rate is still low while the weight of cattle we produce is also far from the ideal that could support self-sufficient in meat." he said. (Mtd)
