Indonesia is intensifying efforts to promote agricultural downstreaming as a strategy to boost value creation and improve farmers’ income. Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman urged regional governments to speed up the processing of key commodities such as coconuts, cocoa, and cashew nuts, emphasizing that local leaders play a critical role in implementing downstreaming programs. To support this initiative, the central government has allocated IDR 40 trillion, or around USD 2.3 billion, to help districts develop processing capacity and strengthen regional agribusiness ecosystems.
The minister highlighted Indonesia’s position as the world’s largest coconut producer, noting that most exports are still shipped in raw form with a value of about IDR 24 trillion. With proper processing, however, export potential could increase significantly, reaching an estimated IDR 896 trillion. Growing global demand for coconut-based products, particularly in markets such as China, further strengthens the outlook. In addition to coconuts, commodities including cocoa, cashew nuts, and gambier are also viewed as having strong downstream potential, reinforcing the government’s commitment to creating higher-value agriculture and delivering sustainable income growth for farmers nationwide.
