International Conference on Strengthening Indonesian Agribusiness
The integrated global economy has implications on the development of agriculture, especially in Indonesia. Agriculture and farmers today inevitably face the global market that keeps changing,soa stronger agribusiness is a must. This means how to improve the competitiveness of agricultural products and farmers’ welfare.
Some ways proposed to strengthen the agribusiness system in an effort to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and farmers’ welfare are entrepreneurship and involvementof farmers in the value chain of global markets. In this way, the rural economy where farmers are the main actor can run well, and will ultimately strengthen agribusiness in Indonesia.
This view was expressed by Prof. Meine P. van Dijk from the Maastricht School of Management (MSM) of the Netherlands, who gavea keynote speech in the International Conference "Strengthening Indonesia: Rural Development and Global Market Linkages" at IPB International Convention Center (IICC) Bogor (25-26 / 4). This activity is organized by the Department of Agribusiness, Faculty of Economics and Management (FEM) of Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) in collaboration with MSM, Indonesia Agribusiness Association (AAI), the Indonesian Association of Agricultural Economics (PERHEPI), and Nuffic.
IPB’s Vice Rector of Resources and Strategic Studies, Prof. Dr. Hermanto Siregar said that what is done by the Department of Agribusiness through this international conference is very relevant. The effort to discuss and provide policymakers and practitioners with recommendations of how agricultural development efforts can be madeby strengthening the agribusiness, especially in facing a new era of economic integration and global markets, such as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
This activity was attended by international speakers from various countries, including: Dr. Danniel Sherrad (Earth University, Costa Rica), Dr. Nunung Kusnadi (IPB), Oliver Olson, MBA (MSM, The Netherlands), Mrs. Lucie Wassink (Embbasy of the Netherlands), Prof. Johan van Rooyen (Stellenboch University, South Africa), Ir. Wildan Mustafa (Owner of Hikmah Farm, Indonesia), Joshua Bray, M.Sc (University of Sydney, Australia), and Dr. Nerlita M. Manalili (SEARCA, Phillipiness).
Chairman of the committee, Dr. Amzul Rifin, said that this event is the contribution of Department of Agribusiness in the internationalization of IPB. It was attended by academicians, practitioners and policy makers for two days to present and discuss the research results. (*** /Mtd)
