www.poultryindonesia.com. INDONESIAN feed producers recently made the country’s first distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) purchase, totaling 500 tons. Efforts to continue marketing in this country is focus on the many small layer and dairy operations that mix their own feed and who, through cooperative bulk purchasing, might find DDGS an attractive option as studies have shown that it could reduce feed costs by up to 15 percent.

Although DDGS has been introduced in the region over the past few years, Dr Budi Tangendjaja, U.S. Grain Council Consultant, said many self-mixing layer and dairy farmers are still unaware of DDGS. "Mixing farmers use corn, soybean meal, meat and bone meal, and rice bran as their main ingredients. I spoke to the farmers about using DDGS as an alternative feed ingredient and demonstrated feed formulations in which DDGS was able to reduce feed costs. Several farmers indicated an interest in trying DDGS and contacted local suppliers who currently import the product," he said.

Dr Tangendjaja told the participants that a DDGS inclusion rate of 15 per cent in the layers' diet was able to reduce their costs by up to Rp 136 per kilogram. "Following the meeting, all of the participants indicated an interest to try DDGS, and one group agreed to purchase DDGS from a local supplier," he said, adding that dairy farmers were also intrigued by the cost savings and the potential of increased milk production. One dairy cooperative in East Java, that tested the ingredient, reported feeding an extra one kilogram of DDGS per cow per day resulted in an increase of daily milk production of about 3.1 kilograms per cow per day. 

"Upon hearing these results, a local importer indicated an interest in using DDGS and would like to distribute it to the farmers," said Dr Tangendjaja. "It is estimated that the total number of dairy cattle in East Java is 150,000 head. If each head of cattle can be fed one kilogram of DDGS daily, the DDGS requirement would be 150 tons per day.

INDONESIA’S Minster of Agriculture,Ir. Suswono MA attended the recently concluded Global Feed Summit in Bali. The conference attracted around 80 participants from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. 

Suswono, officially opened the conference, and delivered the keynote address on the Competitiveness of the Livestock Feed Sector. In his speech, Suswono expressed that the poultry, dairy, swine and aquaculture industries are the most dynamic and competitive industries in the global agriculture sector. He added, from a global perspective, the feed industry will be focused on supply of raw materials, and referenced emerging trends of, more demand and less supply which are currently dominating the marketplace. 

To be competitive, Suswono highlighted government commitments  to improve Indonesia’s marketing channels, reduce transportation & marketing costs, as well as  import taxes for several main imported feed raw materials and other production inputs.   

Suswono’s speech summed up his belief that government policies, better marketing channels, alternative feeds, and technological innovations are part of the solution to balancing feed supply and demand. 

Monsanto’s Brian Uken also highlighted the importance of increasing crop yields via biotechnology in his highly rated speech, demonstrating its role in supplementing growing global demand for corn by doubling yields. He also cited a report published in Australia, which said that GM-producing countries dominate world trade in maize, soybeans, cottonseed and canola. 

The Global Feed Summit discussed and addressed several other issues that have arisen across the animal feed value chain, including advances in animal breeding, challenges for the world’s meat supply chain, feed business risk management, the grains markets, DDGS (Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles), Feed demand and supply in China, Mycotoxins and many more.

FARMERS’ lack of access to land and capital, and the rapid conversion of agricultural land to other uses, is restraining the country’s agricultural output, experts said at a seminar on the agriculture sector’s outlook in Jakarta lately.

Hermanto Siregar, deputy rector of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), said farmers would be unable to significantly boost output if these problems remain unsolved, regardless of how intensively they managed their existing land. “The growth of the agriculture sector next year will still be hampered mostly by two factors: land and capital,” Hermanto said.

About 100,000 hectares of productive agricultural land is converted to non-agricultural uses every year, he said. Meanwhile, the average farmer works on less than half a hectare. “It’s government’s job to solve the problem through agrarian reform, and it must be done as soon as possible,” Hermanto said. “Land conversion has a significant effect on agricultural output.” Farmers would not be able to improve output on existing land without greater access to capital to improve their seed quality and farming methods, he added.

Also speaking at the seminar, Agriculture Minister Suswono said the government would cooperate with the National Land Agency (BPN) to address land-reform problems. Meanwhile, the government has targeted production increases next year for staple foods, including rice, corn and soybeans. The Agriculture Ministry has targeted a 3.2 percent increase in rice production, with unprocessed rice expected to total 66.68 million tons.

Corn output is expected to reach 19.8 million tons, a 10 percent increase over this year. The ministry is also encouraging small farmers and palm oil plantations to plant more soybeans as part of an effort to reach self-sufficiency in soybean production by 2014.

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