JAKARTA — Bogor-based University of Agriculture (IPB) Rector Arif Satria has urged researchers and universities to innovate the production of animal feeds from seaweeds and palm oil waste as a way to realize self-sufficiency of animal feeds in Indonesia.
Addressing a webinar on animal feeds in Jakarta on Thursday, 04 March 2021, Arif Satria said that the availability of animal feeds is still problematic in Indonesia. Despite crucial for the business of animal husbandry, most of its raw materials are still imported.
According to him, the animal feeds are the biggest component in the industry of animal husbandry. He cited as an example the aquaculture sector where the animal feeds account for 60 percent of the total production cost.
“The animal feeds are very important. In aquaculture, 60 percent of total production cost is the cost of animal feeds. It is also the same case with other animal husbandry. So, we need to find an alternative of the animal feeds, which has high quality and affordable price,” he said.
Arif noted that the result of a new research in the USA had shown that seaweeds can be processed as an alternative of animal feeds. But he asserted that Indonesian researchers and universities should conduct further research on the seaweed potential in order to realize a sovereignty of animal feeds in Indonesia.
He said that Indonesia is potential to have a cheap alternative of animal feeds as the country is one of the world’s major producers of seaweeds. Currently, Indonesian production of seaweeds is used for foods and cosmetics, but it is not yet used as raw material to produce animal feeds.
“The seaweeds should be considered as an option to produce the animal feeds. But it needs further and deeper research that should be pursued by universities of Indonesia,” Arif said.
Besides the seaweeds, he also said that palm oil waste can be also used to produce animal feeds and sugar. The palm oil waste is also a huge potential as an alternative raw material to produce the animal feeds as Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil.
Arif said that Indonesia can apply the principle of zero waste in the production and processing of palm oil by using its wastes as raw materials to produce other valuable products, including the animal feeds.
“We should apply the zero waste principle to support efforts of realizing self-sufficiency in meats and animal feeds, so that we’ll no longer rely on the imports of such products, which are currently still in great volume,” he said. (*)
Source: REPUBLIKA.CO.ID
