Fulfillment of national beef demand is still very dependent on imports. This is because the increase in demand for beef is not necessarily matched by an increase in the beef cattle population in the country. Central Java Province is one of the beef cattle centers in Indonesia, with a population of 1.8 million beef cattle or second place nationally.
In an effort to maintain Central Java as a center for beef cattle production in Indonesia and simultaneously increase the beef cattle population, the strategy for developing beef cattle in Central Java Province is very important to do. Budi Wihardyanto Utomo, a student of the Masters in Animal Science Masters Program, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Agriculture, Diponegoro University, has conducted a research entitled “Analysis of Potential and Strategy for Beef Cattle Development in Central Java Province”. With the guidance of Dr. Agus Setiadi and Dr. Retno Adiwinarti, a study assignment student from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia, has successfully defended her thesis in front of examiners consisting of Prof. Siswanto Imam Santoso, Prof. Agung Purnomoadi and Dr. Sugiharto recently. Overall Budi Wihardyanto Utomo successfully completed his master’s studies in exactly two years.
From the research that has been done, several suggestions can be given to maintain Central Java as a center for beef cattle, including (i) it is necessary to improve the management of beef cattle maintenance and government support in anticipating negative trends in the beef cattle population in Kendal Regency, Semarang Regency and Semarang City; (ii) it is expected that in the development of beef cattle in Central Java Province both by the government, livestock business actors and through CSR, the focus is on paying attention to the socio-economic conditions of the breeders including age, level of formal education, farming experience, main job, number of cattle ownership and ownership status; (iii) the need for the utilization of non-conventional agricultural wastes such as corn cobs, bagasse and peanut shells as well as water spinach waste as animal feed in the form of complete feed in the form of pellets; and (iv) there is a need for livestock price guarantee at the farmer level by using measuring devices/scales as the basis for price determination.
