TEMPO.CO, Palembang - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) under the command of Minister Susi Pudjiastuti has successfully utilized palm oil cake as one of the raw materials for fish feed. In addition to successfully suppressing feed imports, the use of oil palm cake can also increase production at the smallholder level.
Palm kernel meal (PKM) is a by-product of the manufacture of palm oil. The availability of PKM is still very abundant in Indonesia. Until now, Indonesia is still listed as the second largest country in the world after Malaysia for PKM production.
"Palm meal is easy to obtain and has been proven to have a high nutritional content," said Mimid Abdul Hamid, Director of Fish Feed and Medicine at the Director General of Fisheries Cultivation of the KKP, in Banyuasin, South Sumatra, Wednesday, October 16, 2019.
Since then, said Mimid, during the 2015-2018 period, the volume and value of aquaculture production has increased by an average of 19.2 percent per year. Commodities that experienced a significant increase included shrimp (35.22 percent), Gurame (35.09 percent), and catfish 23.94 percent.
According to Mimid, the increase was not only due to the use of independent feed, but also to the role of bioflock, rice minarets, seed and brood fish assistance and excavators. The feed cost component reaches 60 – 70 percent of the total production cost. Therefore, the development of independent fish feed is one of the solutions from the government.
Mimid mentioned several provinces as evidence of the success of the independent feed program, including South Lampung. There, the Sentosa Independent Feed Program Association in Marga Agung Village, Jati Agung District managed to produce 15 – 18 tons of fish feed per month, with a selling price of Rp. 6 thousand – Rp. 7 thousand per kg.
The independent feed was proven to reduce FCR from 1.5 to 1 in catfish farming. Meanwhile in Probolinggo, it is capable of producing 5-6 tons of freshwater fish feed per month. The use of independent feed can increase the margin of farmers by 50 percent. "In the past, the profit per kilo was only Rp. 4 thousand, now it is Rp. 6 thousand, Mimid added.
Meanwhile, the Head of the FAO representative in Indonesia, Stephen Rudgard explained that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed independent feed based on local raw materials in Indonesia through the project "Supporting Local Feed Self-Sufficiency for Inland Aquaculture Development in Indonesia. ".
The collaboration that was fostered with Minister Susi was a Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) activity from 2018 to 2019. With this collaboration, she hopes that there will be an increase in fish feed production, especially freshwater fish of high quality and cost-effective by small-scale feed producers in Indonesia. . "We have to produce more fish at prices that are easily accessible to the public," he said.
