MATARAM. Bank Indonesia (BI) has channeled Rp 95 million (US$7,317) of social assistance funds for cattle breeder groups in Batu Tering village, Sumbawa regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

“We channeled the assistance to help local cattle breeders to develop basic and supporting infrastructure, such as stalls and a secretariat office for the group in Batu Tering village,” said the central bank’s NTB office head Prijono in Mataram on Monday.

Sumbawa has great potential for cattle husbandry. However, it has not yet brought optimal benefits to local breeders because many of them still use a traditional husbandry system called lar or so, in which the breeders release their cattle on to savannah.

To support the development of an intensive animal husbandry system, Prijono said, BI partnered with the NTB Animal Husbandry Agency and the Sumbawa administration to create cattle husbandry clusters, which involved 80 cattle breeders divided into four groups, in Batu Tering.

“We handed over the Rp 95 million of assistance to those four groups in the hope they can implement an intensive husbandry pattern for more optimal results,” he said.

Under the program, Prijono said, local breeders were encouraged to place their cattle in stalls and supply them with green, nutritious foods.

Prijono said BI also gave animal health and cultivation technology training to husbandry groups in Batu Tering. “We’ve seen huge economic development potential in Batu Tering, one of which is through the use of manure as organic fertilizer in farming fields of prime crops such as rice, corn and inflation-contributing commodities including shallots, red chilies and tomatoes,” he said. (Panca Nugraha)

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie