Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs RI, Drs. Teten Masduki attended the 15th Anniversary of the Faculty of Economics online via a zoom meeting (10/06). Drs. Teten Masduki was accompanied by Special Staff M. Riza Damanik. In her scientific oration, Teten said that so far, most of the cooperatives in Indonesia are engaged in savings and loans. It is time for Cooperatives to innovate in serving customers, such as being a holding for farmers.
The problem that has yet to be solved is the distribution chain of agricultural products. Many farmers experience slow capital turnover, because their products are sold through consignment sales in supermarkets. This is where the middleman plays, so he gets a big advantage. On the other hand, farmers get small profits and some even lose. So far, middlemen have become intermediaries for agricultural products to customers and become gods of help to farmers. At least farmers can get break event points or their capital back.
Through university incubators and downstream products and innovations, Teten hopes that universities can play a role in developing cooperatives. In addition, the regional superior potential in Central Java such as agricultural products and marine products in the form of shrimp must be developed so as to increase comparative advantage.