Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan announced his plan to form an executive task force to expedite the implementation of the Red and White Village Cooperatives program introduced by President Prabowo Subianto.
"I have been asked to coordinate the program and establish a task force that will handle daily work, which is a good idea," he remarked at a press conference at his office in Jakarta on Thursday.
Hasan highlighted that President Prabowo recently issued Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2025 regarding the acceleration of the national program.
He said implementing this initiative would require synergy and contributions from multiple institutions, including the Cooperatives Ministry, Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, and Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Ministry.
He added that the Finance Ministry and the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry will manage budgeting and funding matters.
"Learning from experience, it is imperative for us to manage the planned cooperatives in a proper and professional manner," he stressed.
President Prabowo has set a target to establish 80 thousand cooperatives in rural regions across Indonesia under the program.
During his visit to a village in Majalengka, West Java, on Monday (April 7), the head of state underscored that each Red and White Village Cooperative would be provided with two trucks to facilitate the distribution of its host village's agricultural commodities to markets.
"This way, we can ensure that all harvests reach markets," he remarked during a harvest event.
He highlighted that these cooperatives are essentially envisioned as hubs of economic and social services for rural communities, including savings and loans, clinics and pharmacies with affordable medicines, cold storage for agricultural and fishery products, and subsidized fertilizers.
