REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Vice President Jusuf Kalla has asked the Agriculture Ministry to revitalize the Indonesian Sugarcane Plantation Research Center (P3GI) to enable it to promote the living standard of sugarcane farmers.

The center which was established in 1887 had not functioned as a modern sugar research institution, he said at the meeting hall of the Malang district administration in East Java on Saturday.

"Many of its materials have expired as they are 20 years old. How is it possible to function well? It must be rehabilitated as it involves the livelihood of millions of people," he said.

Therefore, he wanted to return the center to a non-profit institution which would focus on sugar researches. The center might be subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture to get adequate funding to finance its activities, he said.

"The sugar research center will not be taken over because it is owned by the government but its status is unclear. Although it is government institution it is seconded to a subsidiary of plantation company," he said.

According to its website, P3GI is one of research institutions managed by the Indonesian Plantation Research Association (APPI) made up of state and private plantation companies. In carrying out its activities, P3GI is overseen by the Advisory Council of Plantation Research Centers (Puslitbun). Like other plantation research centers, P3GI is expected to invent technologies and recommend policies to direct the development of plantation industry in general and sugar industry in particular.

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