Jakarta – The government continues to refine the operations of the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative (Kopdes Merah Putih) by preparing tens of thousands of professional managers to be placed in various regions. This step is being taken to ensure that the cooperative can be managed in a modern, professional, and sustainable manner when it begins operating widely in August 2026.
Minister of Cooperatives (Menkop) Ferry Juliantono stated that the recruitment process for Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative managers has now entered the final stages and will soon be followed by training before being placed in the field.
“We are currently simultaneously recruiting managers for the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative, as this is crucial for professionalism in managing the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative. This will be completed by the end of July, and the selection process is now complete and we are entering the training preparation phase,” said Ferry.
According to Ferry, the government is recruiting approximately 35,000 management personnel, consisting of 30,000 managers from the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperative and 5,000 managers from the Merah Putih Fishermen’s Village (KNMP). Their presence is considered crucial in ensuring the cooperative is able to run the various business units designed by the government.
Ferry explained that the prospective managers who passed the selection process are currently being prepared for training before being placed in all village and sub-district cooperatives.
“The selection process is now complete. We are now entering the training preparation phase for prospective managers of the Merah Putih Village/Sub-district Cooperatives, who, God willing, will be placed in all village cooperatives in Merah Putih Sub-district in August,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan stated that the government is preparing a placement scheme for managers through the state-owned enterprise PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara. The managers will be contracted for two years before becoming part of the village cooperative management.
“After two years with the state-owned enterprise, they will join the Merah Putih village cooperative,” Zulkifli said.
According to him, this scheme is necessary to ensure the process of establishing and strengthening cooperative operations runs optimally from the outset. The government is also opening 35,476 job positions to support the operations of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative as part of its strategy to strengthen the national food ecosystem.
President Prabowo Subianto previously launched the operationalization of 1,061 Red and White Village Cooperatives (Kopdes) in Nganjuk, East Java, as a pilot project. The government is targeting the launch of at least 20,000 village and sub-district cooperatives by August, with readiness not only in terms of physical structures but also human resources and operations. (*)