Some 1,779 villages, or 60 percent of the total 2,966 villages in 20 districts in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province, have received funds from the Rural Agribusiness Development Program (PAUP) from the central government.
Each village received Rp100 million from the PAUP program to empower the local villagers’ economy, he said.
“So, there are over Rp177 billion distributed in the community receiving this funds, which could be very useful if used optimally,” he said.
The funds managed through local farmers’ groups were meant for among other things cultivation activities (84 percent) consisting of animal husbandry (48 percent), food crops (25 percent), horticulture (five percent), plantations (six percent), he explained.
The remaining 16 percent was for non-horticultural activities including for harvest processing activities (12 percent), and other agriculture-based activities (three percent).
Since the program was launched, NTT had received PUAP funds for 513 villages of the total target of 522 villages with the PUAP funds reaching over Rp51.281 billion in 2008.
“Every farmers’ group gets Rp100 million. The funds has been used by 2,758 farmers’ groups and 42,611 farmers,” he said.
In 2009, NTT got PUAP funds for 395 villages in 20 districts. The program has been developing well up to 2011, with around 40-50 more villages involved and funds amounting to Rp4-5 billion had been circulated in each village.
