CROWDE Pilot Project on "Panen Raya" in Karangnunggal County

By Afrianti Eka Pratiwi - September 22, 2022

CROWDE as one of the Startup fielding in Agriculture Technologies who focused on guidance for farmers, recently held an event called "Panen Raya" in Karangnunggal, Tasikmalaya. The event that took place on 6th July 2022, adhered as the first pilot project for Karangnunggal County, along with County Owned Corporations (BUMDes) and the Chambers of Commerce (KADIN) in West Java, resulting in tremendous results.

The event transpired on land owned by BUMDes. Besides the main event, there is also a ceremonial who invited the chairman of KADIN in West Java, Drs. H. Cucu Sutara M.M; Co-Chairman of County and Boarding Schools Empowerment Workforce, H. Haerul Tamam; Director of Karangnunggal BUMDes, Enung Komalasari; Chief of Karangnunggal County, Herliman Idris AMD; Head of Bureau DPMD in West Java, Dr. Ir. H. Dicky Saromi M.Sc; and also the CEO & Co-Founder CROWDE, Yohanes Sugihtononugroho. Not only the BUMDes and KADIN representatives, local residents also joined the fun on Panen Raya in Karangnunggal.

The harvest garnered about 478,04 kg of red chili as their main commodity. On average, an acre of land results in 9 tonnes of red chili. Later, the harvested goods will be sold at market price, as the price for red chili is at its peak.

"Usually, the predicted result from one acre of land is 9 tonnes. The interesting bit is that the average market price is Rp100.000/kg. This is very good for the farmers, as the market price keeps increasing for this commodity," said Cucu Sutara, The Chairman of KADIN in West Java.

Karangnunggal is one of the counties that could potentially accumulate farming commodities, especially red chili. The presence of Panen Raya is also to appreciate the local farmers and to show that by the partnership between CROWDE and BUMDes resulting in a great outcome.

CROWDE begins with 4 red chili cultivation projects as the pilot project with the purpose of finding out the eligibility of cultivation in the region. The pilot project was initiated by partnering with the farmers who prevailed after thorough qualifications towards their quality of land, workers, and BI checking. The funds were distributed using a closed-loop-system, where the farmers received the fund in a form of raw materials instead of hard cash to mitigate the risk of fund misuse and precision transactions.

In this case, CROWDE took part by giving end-to-end guidance, from preparing the means of agrarian production (saprotan), guidance, and education to farmers on the planting process. While BUMDes took part by providing the lands and farmers who wanted to participate.

"We as a farmer felt very helped by the presence of CROWDE who gave assistance in a form of education and guidance to the right way of planting.

As of 2020, CROWDE gathered 196 partnered corn farmers, 296 rice farmers, and 1.841 chili farmers. Moving on, CROWDE hoped to always give a positive impact towards more farmers spread across Indonesia. It is because 98,6% partnered farmers collectively agree that by joining with CROWDE, they have an easier access to get the necessary funds for the sustainability of their farming business.