The Ministry of Agriculture (Deptan) has issued a Decision Letter (SK Mentan) to release/launch ‘Mallika’ as a national premium variety of black soybean seed. The copy of this SK Mentan is presented by DirGen Food Crops Ir Sutarto Alimoeso, MM, representing Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono, to the UGM Dean of Agriculture and to the Director of PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk, Joseph Bataona, in a discussion “ Revitalisasi Pembenihan Kedelai Mendukung Swasembada Kedelai Tahun 2015 ” or Revitalizing Soybean Germination Boosts Soybean Self Sufficiency in 2015, in the UGM Agriculture Faculty Auditorium, Monday (10/9).
This birth of Mallika is marked by the issuance of Minister of Agriculture Decision Letter number SK78/Kpts/SR.120/2/2007. This is the result of collaboration among Unilever, farmers and UGM in a Black Soybean Farmer Development program managed by Yayasan Unilever Peduli as a form of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Mallika’sbirth adds to black soybean biodiversity in Indonesia.For the past 22 years, there had only been the Cikuray variety, the last black soybean the government released in 1992. Data of the Ministry of Agriculture’sBalai Penelitian Tanaman Kacang-kacangan dan Umbi-umbian (Balitkabi) or Grain and Tuber Crop Research Center, there were only four black soybean varieties before Mallika, whereas there are 51 yellow soybean varieties.
“Since 2001, we have collaborated with the UGM Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Agriculture Technology for the purpose of developing the program for the empowerment of Black Soybean Farmers. By linking with farmers, we have cultivated high quality black soybean to meet the production of Kecap Bango,” disclosed Corporate Relations & HR Director PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk. Joseph Bataona. The program which finally gave birth to Mallika, was implemented through the Yayasan Unilever Peduli in Yogyakarta, Nganjuk, Trenggalek, and Madiun.
“We expect the discovery of the Mallika superior variety, to revive delegacy of local black soybean genes whose number have continued to decline. Mallika passage which has been purified since 2001 till planting time in 2006 has involved about 5,000 farmers. They are spread in various areas joined in 126 farmer groups utilizing up to 600 hectares of land,” added General Manager ULI Peduli, Sinta Kaniawati accompanied by Manager of SME Program Development, Maya Tamimi.
Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Mary Astuti, of the UGM Agriculture Technology Faculty admits to being proud of the finding. Since, Mallika, which was born as a result of the diligence of UGM Agriculture Faculty researchers, is the first variety produced by the Faculty after 46 years of its establishment. “For UGM this finding is similar to proof of research ‘revival’ in the field of agriculture. We expect this collaboration could meet the domestic supply of Black Soybean working towards soybean self sufficiency in 2015,” explained Mary.
The name Mallika comes from Tamil meaning kingdom. “We believe this new variety will grow into a local soybean kingdom, particularly black soybean,” expected Mary. Mallika has the characteristic of brown fuzz on the stem and pod. This soybean branches out, the semi indeterminate type, whose flower lasts 33 days, and the pod matures in 67 days. While the seed maturity of harvest age is 88-99 days with a potential yield of 2.4 tons per hectare.
To develop black soybean farmers, Unilever Indonesia through Yayasan Unilever Peduli conducted instruction and education through black soybean planting, premium seed loan, fund aid, husking machinery assistance and harvest yield marketing certainty. ”In future Unilever plans to increase the black soybean land area. The target is the black soybean production of development farmers meeting 100 percent of Unilever demand/needs,” affirmed Joseph.
In addition to Food Crops DirGen Ir. Sutarto Alimoeso, MM; Forum Perbenihan DIY represented by Prof. Dr. Ir. Prapto Yudono; were Bantul Regent, Drs. H.M. Idham Samawi; Director of Corporate Relations and HR PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk., Joseph Bataona; UGM Rector Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi M.Eng, Ph.D and UGM researchers. The event was also enlivened by the presence of 200 black soybean farmers.
