By: Cut Meutia )*
The Special Region of Aceh has many potential natural resources, including natural products such as coffee and essential oils. The government is also committed to improving the economy in Aceh so that its people will be more prosperous.
Aceh is a province that has a special regional status and, like in Papua, receives special autonomy funds. These funds are for development there, particularly infrastructure and the economy. It is hoped that with this money, the people will live more prosperously.
So far, in Aceh there is still inequality and the government is trying to make all its people live prosperously. After investigation, it turned out that most of the work there was still in agriculture and trade. These two fields can actually be processed so that they can be improved so that farmers and traders have much more income.
Farmers in Aceh (who are mostly coffee farmers) have not improved their economy, because they may still use traditional methods. Therefore, this is where the government’s role is very important to provide training and guidance, for example predicting the season so that crop failure does not occur, providing assistance with modern agricultural tools, providing online marketing workshops, etc.
Farmers also need to be given training in coffee processing so that the quality is good, and it can even penetrate the export market. If farmers can practice this, we are optimistic that the local economy in Aceh will improve and the people can live more prosperously. Everyone has to keep up with the times and in the digital era, you can’t just sell coffee to the local market, because there are many opportunities to export through international marketplaces.
Muhammad Iqbal STP, MM, Head of the Sub-Sector for Development of Industry, Trade, and Tourism of the Aceh Bappeda, stated that a manufacturing industry is needed in the land of rencong. The goal is to reduce unemployment and prosper the people. The manufacturing industry is very suitable because on average it is labor-intensive or requires a lot of employees.
Iqbal continued, actually there is potential in Aceh other than coffee, namely essential oils. It is hoped that there will be a manufacturing industry that processes it in a modern way so that the essential oils made in Aceh can become national and even penetrate the international market. The construction of the manufacturing plant can be done with assistance from the central and regional governments.
Currently in Aceh, halal tourism is being promoted, which was initiated by the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno. With this program, it is hoped that many local and foreign tourists will want to travel to Aceh, because there is still a lot of natural potential that can be explored. These include Gunung Leuser National Park, Lhoknga Beach, and Rubia Island.
There are also other tourist attractions that can be visited by Muslim tourists, for example at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque and the Tsunami Museum. In some places, they have ‘sold’ and are able to attract the interest of the traveler. When there are many tourists, it automatically increases local government revenue. The people of Aceh are also splashed with sustenance because they can sell souvenirs and food to tourists.
Coffee plantations and essential oil processing can also be used as new tourist attractions, because the average traveler is curious, what fresh coffee beans look like and how they are processed, and also wants to know what genuine essential oils are like? This will make new tourists want to visit Aceh, because there are halal tours and also tours to gardens that don’t exist anywhere else.
The local economy in Aceh will be boosted by the government, both by granting special autonomy funds and building manufacturing factories. Coffee farmers can also be given direction so that they become professional modern farmers and produce coffee beans that can be exported.
)* The author is a contributor to Pertiwi Institute
